The Setting Sun
by Volleys-chan
Summary: Bulma had decided that she needed an heir. Not just because her company's board was demanding it, but because she decided it would be fun. The only problem is talking a very stubborn prince into helping. Will he be there for her even if tragedy comes?
1. Chapter 1

Hey everyone!

Yes, I should be working on Almost Full Moon, but I have been working on this as well.

Now we all know the story. We've seen it a thousand and one times. Vegeta and Bulma got together and had Trunks. I personally like Trunks. But... no offense... why is it always Trunks? Or just Trunks and Bra? Keeping Canon is nice, but not when everyone does it. Go find Tempestt and read her storys. I think the story series 'Set me Free' and 'Free my Soul' are very original thoughts!

Oops! Rambling again!! Heh Heh! sorry!!

Well, I have read several stories where Vegeta wanted an heir. That's nice and all, but what's he going to do with a heir?

And Bulma? She is made out to be a freaking genius! Why is she so materialistic and in with the times if she was a genius? She would be a little more hard to understand if she was really genius type material.

So in this story, I pumped up Bulma's genius level and her personality took a small turn.

So instead of Vegeta being the one to demand an heir, you've got one smart heiress deciding that she wants Vegeta to give her an heir.

And thus you get:

* * *

**_The Setting Sun_**

Chapter 1

_And Inspiration Struck... Which Might have been a Bad Thing..._

* * *

**Disclaimer: will never own DBZ**

* * *

_** Note: I am giving you a warning now. If you do not like tragedy, go find a different story. This one will throw you a loop that may be too hard to take. But I found it needed to break from everyone else's stories. What can I say?_

* * *

Three years. That was the allotted time that the kid from the future had given them. She was to survive, but what would that mean? Living with monsters killing everyone every day of the week while all her friends laid six feet under?

That sounded like a terrible future to her. What would she do without them?

Bulma sighed as she laid on her stomach, slowly swinging her legs up and down as she watched Vegeta and Yamcha train from her balcony. It had been only a few weeks since Vegeta had blown the GR up. He was using the backup GR that they had that doubled as a space ship. She was half surprised that he didn't take off in it. She watched the engine run furiously as well as Yamcha doing a half crap job at his training.

She sighed, why did she date that man for so many years? She didn't know. He never did anything to his fullest. Not anymore. Hell, he didn't even pursue her to his fullest anymore. She sighed as she looked away, bored with it all now that nothing was needed of her.

She got up, deciding to do something different and maybe head to the labs. She was a woman who should not be bored. If bored, she could cause extreme chaos. It was as if Kami himself knew this and always kept her entertained so that she didn't decide to take over the world herself.

Because if she tried, no doubt she would prevail where so many had failed. It wasn't about using force or power or fear. It was all about overtaking the economy and ruling from the inside out. How foolish had everyone _else_ been.

Trying to take by sheer force only alerted people like Goku and a hero would rise. Taking over slowly and subtly would be best course of action.

Bulma smirked as she shook her head. She shouldn't be entertaining those thoughts again. She had already decided there was just too much work in ruling the world when she was 20 after her first real break up with Yamcha.

Bulma got changed quickly before heading out. Her father gave her a wave goodbye as she headed to the main Capsule Corps HQ. She sat down at her desk once she reached the place and began to work on her paperwork.

It gave her something to do, something to focus on so that she didn't feel bored or useless. While everyone else was out there training, the only person, who even had a speck of sense to ask her for training gear, was Vegeta. She had given him what he had asked for, so he was content. If, no, when he became bored, he would merely ask –or demand- more. She liked it because not only did she get to test her droids, but he kept _breaking_ them, show her the flaws and demanding better ones, which she always supplied.

He had found that if he left remains, she could see how they had failed to make his new ones better. He was a lot smarter than the others gave him credit for, but he was too obsessed with his training for her tastes.

Not that she looking for a new romance in her life. She had decided at the age of twenty-five that she would be single for the rest of her life. A few romps here and there with a few men, but she would never have it go far. She wasn't interested in what men had to offer. They bored her, actually. She could predict what they would do and it was boring.

Again, rule number one of Bulma was never let her get bored. Her father knew that, her mother knew that, and her employees knew that, but not the men who pursued her.

"Miss Briefs," She heard, pulling her mind out of her musings to see her secretary.

"Yes?" Bulma asked, looking up at the woman who pulled her from her musings.

She was short, barely taller than Krillin by a three inches or so, black raven hair and green eyes. She was wearing a green dress with a sash tied around her midsection, creating ruffles in her dress and knee high white boots. She had a professional air to her as she held Bulma's schedule in her hands.

"You have a meeting with the board," She said, sighing as she did, "And you are not going to like what they want."

Bulma raised a brow as she looked at her secretary, "Oh? Pray tell, Ryo, _what_ do they _want_."

* * *

Bulma stormed down the halls after leaving the room of those… those.. pompous jerk-wads with the whorish daughters and pig sons! They wanted…

They wanted her to…

She gritted her teeth as she continued to march, Ryo catching up with her with practiced ease as she continued look down at the palm pilot in her hands.

"I told you," She said with a sigh, "that you weren't going to like what they said."

Bulma didn't stood storming down the halls as she headed for the doors to leave. She was not staying here and there was no way in hell that she was going to say anything to Ryo until she was safely in her car _alone_ with her.

"Get my hairdresser on the line and get me an appointment," Bulma seethed, "Then call the spa and tell them to get ready for me."

Ryo was on the phone faster than Bulma could finish her sentence.

"Bonjour mon ami, je dois programmer un rendez-vous pour Bulma Briefs." She paused, listening to the person on the other line before responding, "Bien. Nous aurons raison plus de. Merci."

"They made an opening. Jacquie is excited to see you again, though she may be afraid of you if you are still simmering like you are." Ryo paused, dialing another number before beginning another conversation in another language.

That was what Ryo was good for. She was on top of things. She knew how things were to go. She never let Bulma down. That was why Bulma paid her well, making sure the woman never-ever left her. Hell, her pay was better than most of the scientists pay.

Bulma popped a capsule once they were outside, motioning Ryo to get in the car before she hopped in herself and slammed the petal to the metal. The car roared to life as it took off with the two women inside it.

"They want _me_ to get married and produce an heir!" Bulma finally seethed, "Me! Can you believe it?"

"They fear losing your family's genius. Your mother might not work anymore, but Dr. Bunny Usagi and Dr. Teddy Briefs _founded_ Capsule Corps and patented over half of the world's household items." Ryo told her, "It is only natural that they would want you to produce an heir. Bulma, you hit 30 months ago, they think you as an old has been if anything- the dipsticks."

Bulma seethed as she easily weaved through the traffic, skidding to a stop only once she got to her hairdresser's salon.

"I am not some old has-been! I am still young and I am still beautiful! I will show _them_ who is expendable." Bulma growled as she marched in, leaving her car where she had it.

Someone else would get it for her. Ryo was right next to her yet again, talking.

"What are you going to do?"

"Do?" Bulma asked, looking at Ryo, "I am not going to marry one of their sons, like they had oh so quietly mentioned. I am _not_ getting married. Period."

"But what about the whole _heir_ business?" Ryo asked.

"The only reason they _asked_ for an heir was so one of their sons might marry me. I am not going to take that. As for an heir…" Bulma smiled as she began to plot, "I will give them one if they so _wish_ it, but it won't be like they had thought."

"You going to get an sperm injection?" Ryo asked, curious to what Bulma Briefs had in mind.

"No, too painful," Bulma shook her head, "No fun in it either."

"One night stand?"

"What if I failed?"

"Then what?" Ryo huffed as they finally approached Bulma's usual salon chair.

"When it's all figured out, I will tell you," Bulma said as she sat, her anger dissipating just like that.

Ryo repressed a shiver. This woman could take over the world if she so much as wanted to. Screwing over a board of directors was child's play to her. She kept her job if only because this one woman was the most interesting thing to watch. No doubt her little plan would backfire in the Board members' faces.

"Bonjour mon ami," a sweet tone said as one Jacquie appeared from the back of the salon.

She was the best stylist around, or at least she became that way when Bulma Briefs started coming to her. She was kind and patient and didn't have a cruel bone in her body. If anything, she was the sweetest woman in the world. She had a French accent since she came from the area Old World France had once been and the language as well as some of the culture lingered even after the Old World's destruction.

"Bulma!" She cooed as she touched the perm hairdo, "You have got to let me undo this! I cannot accept that my understudy did this to your hair!"

The one time she had been out with a cold, Bulma had come in and her assistant was crazy enough to _perm_ Bulma's hair into this… this crows nest. She would not stand for that. Bulma's hair was exotic and it was wasted like this.

"Do what you want, Jacquie, I just need some time to think."

"Then I will make you look divine. Like a goddess or a queen!"

Bulma's eyes opened wide when she heard that. Ryo could see a smile slip onto her lips as she entertained no doubt a very dangerous thought.

"Do that," Bulma nodded, "Make me look good enough to capture the attention of even a stubborn prince."

Ryo gulped, wondering what the board had done. They had wanted an heir… And Bulma was going to give them _just_ that. But the heir to _what_, even Ryo wasn't sure of.

"If you say so, Bulma," Jacquie shrugged.

She didn't seem to like this idea either. She did her job though. She had Bulma's hair straightened, cleaned, and added a light wave to her hair. She braided a few pieces, twisted others, and curled the rest in a messy but elegant style, adding a few gems there and there to add the final touches.

Not once had Bulma talked. It was mostly just Ryo and Jacquie. Both didn't want to know what was going through the woman's head.

"All done sweetheart," Jacquie said as she took the giant bib off of Bulma.

"Jacquie," Bulma smiled as she looked at herself, "You are a genius."

"I do my best," She shrugged, "Now be careful at whose hearts you try to steal."

"I will," Bulma smirked, paying Jacquie with a handful of hundreds.

She knew she over paid, but Jacquie undercharged usually anyways. As she said. The way to get people to serve her first was giving them the incentive to. Paying upfront and paying well made people want to reschedule to serve her first since they knew she would pay without a hassle.

"The spa ready?" Bulma questioned as she headed towards the lot, seeing her car and heading towards it.

"Yes, your regulars are all there today so I got you the works."

"Good," Bulma smiled, "Now give me the phone."

Ryo blinked as she handed the phone over to her boss, hearing the speed dial ring the number.

"Hello? Genki! Yeah! I'm fine!" Bulma paused for a second, "No I am not cancelling, but my secretary forgot to schedule an appointment for herself."

Ryo's eyes shot open wide, "No Bulma-san you don't-"

"Yes, yes, the works. She works too hard as it is, no doubt she has her own stress. Arigato!" She hung up and looked at Ryo, "Don't forget yourself next time."

"I do not want to assume, Bulma-san," Ryo sighed, "You don't need to do that anyways. I am just the hired help."

"Nonsense," Bulma said shaking her head, "You are my assistant and you help me. Anyone willing to put up with what you do needs to be spoiled. Plus," She paused giving out a grin, "I don't know woman who is a better girlfriend than you. Now get in the car and stop calling me Bulma-san."

Ryo smiled as she watched Bulma duck into the car, "Yes, Bulma-chan."

* * *

Bulma was quite proud of herself for thinking it up really. Her father was retiring in a few years or so, and she would be needed to run C.C. in his stead. Her mother had retired years ago to be a homemaker, but she knew her stuff, no matter her eccentric personality.

She knew that they would support her decision to be a single parent. Nowadays, she just couldn't trust the men that pursued her. If anything, their wealth brought the gold diggers and none of the fine men who would actually care for their daughter.

She did bother to give them a heads up though.

"Hello honey," Bunny said as she served her daughter tea, "I see you got all fancy. Did something happen at work today?"

"The board spoke to me," Bulma told her taking a sip of her tea, "They want me to settle down and start a family- or at least produce them an heir for the company."

Bunny's smile turned to concern, "Oh dear, they don't really expect you to do that, do they?"

"Yes," Bulma bit out before turning her expression back into a pleasant one, "But I actually am taking a shine to the idea of having a child. I am old enough and financially stable enough to have one. Plus, now is as good as time as any."

"I am so glad that you are having a positive outlook on this," Bunny smiled as she looked at her daughter, "So who is the lucky man going to be? Where is my future son-in-law?"

"No where mother," Bulma said as she crinkled her nose, "I am not having a husband. I don't want to get married. I just want a child, not the husband to go with it."

"Oh dear," Bunny sighed, "So I am never getting a hunky son-in-law?"

"Mother!" Bulma roared before calming down a bit, "No, I am not marrying. I don't want to keep guessing whether or not a man loves me for me or because of my money. If I was just a normal person, I wouldn't fret about it, but the fact is, I'm not. I am rich, smart, and beautiful and that causes greedy men to seek me out."

"Well then, how do you suppose you're going to get a child? Are you going to just do an injection?"

"No," Bulma shook her head, "I have a potential man in mind, but I doubt he would allow us to do _that_. I have certain expectations for my future child to have and I know only one man who can fill all of the qualities I am looking for."

"That rules out Yamcha, the poor dear," Bunny sighed.

Her daughter, though she may have loved him once upon a time, would never choose him now. Her expectations no doubt had to have a man almost as cunning as she was. That narrowed down the list and if Bulma said he _fit_ the bill, then there was only really _one_ man.

A very prideful man.

A very hunky prideful non-human man.

Bunny glanced out the window towards the GR. She knew where her daughter was leading up to. Though she wasn't too fond on this whole not getting married idea, she was sure she could manipulate the situation in her favor eventually.

"So, how do you think Vegeta will take it?" Bunny asked her daughter, already having caught on.

Bulma blinked before smiling. She should have known her mother would figure it out. She was the more social brains in the family. She had stopped working not just to be a homemaker, but to be the hostess who threw the parties, socialized, and gave Capsule Corps its reputation. She was just eccentric.

"I don't know," Bulma mused, "I'll just have to ask him when the time is right."

"And when would that be?" Bunny asked, a giggle escaping her.

She really did like that strapping, fine specimen of Saiyan genetics. If anything he would be grade A material for making her beautiful and darling grandbabies.

"Yamcha will be leaving within a month," Bulma decided, "I can tell he's going to be heading out again. He won't be back this time. I'll get to it around then."

"Alright sweetie," Bunny nodded, before frowning, "Though I would prefer you to get married before having children or even a relationship of this magnitude with a man; I just want you to be happy. But be careful, alright?"

Plans often backfired. Bunny knew this all too well.

"_It'll only be a partnership. Nothing more," the young blonde said as she eyed the purple haired genius._

"_Hai, only a partnership. I ask for nothing more." He agreed before smiling at her lovingly._

Bunny giggled at her memory. Their original deal went far beyond that.

"Talk to your father about it so he doesn't have a conniption when you start this little plan of yours."

"Yes mother," Bulma nodded before heading into the inside garden to see where her father was.

It had gone relatively well with her mother, but her mother was a sneaky one. She would have to watch her back for a while or next thing she would know she'd wake up in Vegas with Vegeta with nothing but a shotgun wedding certificate and a cheap motel room.

She quickly found her father feeding his pets. He had a hundreds of pets, but Bulma never took a fancy to any of the ones he brought home. She would pet them and play with them, but there were all distinctly attached to her mother and father.

"Ah, Bulma," her father greeted her when she came into his view, "How goes the company?"

"It's fine daddy," Bulma smiled, "It's the board that is causing mischief."

Her father frowned, "Oh dear, please tell me that they aren't suggesting you settling down again."

Bulma arched an eyebrow, "They've talked to you before."

Her father sighed, nodding now that he realized they finally went to her with their demands, "I am so sorry sweetie. I told them it was your decision and you couldn't be pushed into something like this."

"Oh, well, its okay," Bulma shrugged as she squatted down to pet an animal, "I decided that I should probably give them an heir so that they don't have to worry about our genius genes vanishing."

"That's great," her father smiled, before pausing, "But it is great as long as it is your decision, not theirs."

"Oh. I wouldn't let them bully me into a loveless marriage with one of their sons and produce half-witted children because their boys contaminated the genes." Bulma said with a sharp tongue, glaring because of the thought, "No. I don't want to get married, Daddy."

"Then how are you going to go about this?" Her father asked, catching on to what his daughter was going to suggest.

"I want you to trust me. Mother says that I have her support, but I want you to be there for me too."

"I will always have your back, sweetie. Even if you make poor choices, I'll still be your father and you'll still be my little girl. Just don't do anything you'll wind up regretting." He looked at her with worry.

"I won't regret anything, Daddy," Bulma confirmed as she stood up, rubbing her hands to get the fur off of them, "I just want your support."

"And you do." Her father nodded, "But don't be surprised if I'm not partial to it."

"Yes Daddy," Bulma said before she began to stroll away, "Love you."

"Love you too," Dr. Briefs smiled before looking at Scratch, his favorite cat and sighed, "I don't think it's going to be as easy as she thinks it will be, do you?"

The cat looked at him a moment before meowing lowly.

"I'm glad _you _think so," he whispered before scratching it on the ear.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey everyone!

Not much to say. I am glad you guys like the Bulma I am offering you. She makes me laugh because of how resourceful and thoughtful she is. She will make you laugh no doubt by her forwardness and bluntness. I hope I can get you smiling today!

I really hope you'll enjoy.

* * *

**_The Setting Sun_**

Chapter 2

_Picky with Genetics_

* * *

**Disclaimer: will never own DBZ**

* * *

_** Note: I am giving you a warning now. If you do not like tragedy, go find a different story. This one will throw you a loop that may be too hard to take. But I found it needed to break from everyone else's stories. What can I say? It will be humor and romance mostly, but there is a tragic event that pushes them closer._

* * *

Three years. That was her given time frame to having this child. She needed to have an heir for her company within the three years. Sure, the world might be slowly taken over by some androids, but she would made a mark in this world by then. If Goku and the rest were able to defeat these monsters and she was childless still, she would be a fool.

The potential father of her child would no doubt be long gone after that and she would have nothing. That was why she was not waiting. That was why these three years were critical.

Bulma smirked at her flawless logic as she laid on her stomach, kicking her legs about lazily as she held a book in a hand, pretending to read it. She was really just watching the movers work from her spot on the couch. She had been right and her patience had finally paid off. Yamcha was moving out.

He gave her some crap load about needing air and that she was a very suffocating person, but she knew he had found himself another girl. About time, Bulma mused, she was beginning to think that he had lost it. Hell she even suggested him to pick up baseball as a future career to pay the bills. He looked grateful.

As long as he was far away from here and not in her face about her decision, she really didn't care. He would soon vanish like the rest of her fighter friends, obsessed with their own lives and giving very little thought to her and what she did until they wanted something.

Her lazy watching was interrupted when a destroyed droid was dropped in front of her.

"Your machines failed _again_," Vegeta clarified in a smug tone, looking very pleased with his kill.

"Alright," Bulma smiled, looking at her new challenge, "At what point did it fail and what exactly did you do to it?"

This was their usual conversation. She picked up the poor machine, probably the only one left to tell the tale of Vegeta's conquest. She listened to Vegeta as he gave her a basic run down at what he did and how the droid seemed to react to it.

He was as sharp as they came. Usually his assessment was dead on and she would just used his observations to improve- after double checking of course. One never does something without making sure it was thorough.

Vegeta stopped only to glare at the movers. Bulma noticed this, looking up at the men who had stood still and waved them on.

"You are doing your job, gentlemen, please ignore our business," Bulma said in a firm tone before closing her book, standing up with the droid in her arms, and leading Vegeta to her lab so they could talk in private.

"What are those men doing?" Vegeta questioned as they walked down the halls.

"They are movers," Bulma said in a calm tone, "Yamcha has decided to move out."

"Finally," Vegeta grumbled, "Now I don't have to see that pathetic weakling playing around as if this is some sort of _game_."

"To him it no doubt is," Bulma shrugged, "He doesn't do well in understand the life and death of this situation. The only struggle he has been in was the fight against your ugly green men from those seeds. He was the first to die. He didn't have to struggle on Namek to live, nor has he done _anything_ since then that demanded life or death."

She paused decided that explaining Yamcha wasn't the best decision so she went to a new subject, "The droid, how much ki pressure could it withstand?"

The conversation returned to the task at hand. Soon they were in front of Bulma's lab and Vegeta stood at the door. Bulma realized that he had never actually been in her lab and for that, she didn't know whether to be shocked or grateful. Vegeta had a tendency to either want things or destroy things.

Not like he wasn't earning his keep by being their test dummy. Her defensive droids were only as good as they were because of her trail and error with Vegeta. Hell, he got paid to test these out, break them, and what not. It was hard to find people out there that could actually withstand her toys.

"Well are you going to come in or are you going to stand at the door all day?" Bulma asked, motioning him inside, "You want this fixed or not?"

Vegeta followed immediately.

Bulma smirked as the door shut behind him. She sat up on her worktable and swung her legs as she pried the machine open and began to disassemble it from the inside out.

Vegeta was looking about, very curious to what the female did in her spare time. All sorts of blueprints hung on the wall from the simplest of machines to the most difficult and complex. She was a mastermind and he had come upon her by pure accident.

Suddenly the monitor screen began to blink before Bulma looked over at Vegeta, "Sit tight, I still have questions for you, I just need this answered."

Vegeta hmphed, but knew that her job was vital to getting his toys. He watched as a woman appeared on the screen, she looked stressed, annoyed, and terrified of the blue haired woman.

"Well?" Bulma asked calmly was she still disassembled the machine.

"They brought it up again," the other woman said, "Actually, I think they are ready to push it on you. Bulma, you need to handle this or else they might try taking the whole company away from your family."

That got the woman's attention, he noticed. She stopped tinkering with his droid and looked over to him, "Vegeta, would you kindly get out? This call just got a little more private."

He glared as her before turning around and heading out the door, but even with it closed he could hear what was being said.

"They say that you must produce an heir, or at least find someone to marry!" He heard the female on the screen say.

His eyes widened slightly. Someone was trying to make Bulma Briefs do something against her will?

"I am not going to marry," Bulma growled, "I don't want a husband. I don't want to keep questioning every day for the rest of my life if he really loves me or if he really just loves my money."

"Okay, staying single is fine, but what about the whole heir business?"

"I have been entertaining the idea for a while. I think a child in my life would be a pleasant change in pace. It would keep me occupied and with Vegeta keeping me busy technology wise, I don't think I'll bore easily."

"Well thank the heavens for that," the other woman sighed, "But how are you going to do this? You are rich, famous, and if you have a child with an unknown father- it'll be everywhere!"

"I'll think of something," Bulma sighed, "I am busy right now Ryo, I will get back to you as soon as my business with Vegeta is done."

There was a pause before he heard the other woman say, "Yes Miss Briefs."

"For the last time, call me Bulma," the woman laughed, "Why is that so hard for people?"

He had an inkling she was referring to him.

"Alright, Bulma, goodbye."

"Goodbye Ryo."

He heard her walking to the door, opening it up and glancing about for him. She stared at him once her gaze had found him.

"Well, come in. I have a few more questions for you." She said as she led him back inside.

He nodded before thinking back on her conversation. Her own people were trying to make her procreate. How cruel. Did nothing she did please them anymore? Or were they just greedy?

He watched as she tinkered with the droid, pulling out several chips and asking about what had happened to them. He would tell her what he did and she would continue.

"That should do it," Bulma said as she pulled out the last piece, "You can go back to your training. Sorry that took so long."

She seemed so calm even though they were asking her to make them an heir. If it had been him, he would have put up a stink. He didn't want children. He didn't want to have to be a father to anything. He grunted his reply and headed out. One question pervaded in his head as he continued on his way…

Why was this thing bugging _him_ so much?

* * *

He should have known. He should have freaking guessed that his unsettled stomach was about _this_.

It wasn't even a week after that scarred one had left and she was sitting there. Staring at him with blue eyes as she pretended to be interested in whatever magazine was under her as she laid on her stomach, her hands propping up her head as her ankles hooked around each other as she lifted them up and down.

He was getting irritated. He didn't like being watched the way she was doing it. It made him feel uneasy. Everything she was doing made him ready himself for an attack or something.

She eyed him again. Perhaps waiting for him to say something. She was pushing her luck, that's what she was doing. Seeing how far she could annoy him without him lashing out.

Finally, she sighed, closing her magazine and getting up. Vegeta stayed where he was, laying back as far as the sofa chair allowed and his legs spread out as he relaxed. He didn't know why, but he tensed when the woman neared him. She walked right between his legs, then squatted where she stood, resting her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands as she stared up at him with that look.

That look, Vegeta knew, though he had never had it directed at him, was trouble. Her eyes were smoldering with something. Not lust. He would smell lust if it was present, but glowing with determination. She had made up her mind about something and she was not going to rest till she got whatever made her look at him like that.

He didn't move a inch, not a nanometer. If he moved away, it would show weakness. If he allowed her to get away with it, it would show weakness. But to swat at her or hit her would make her angry. Angry Bulma meant no training gear. She was the only one in the house who could improve upon what she had built and hell if he knew she didn't have some remote somewhere that controlled the GR outside. He wasn't about to find out.

So he was stuck. He couldn't do anything as she just squatted there staring at him. He didn't know what she wanted, but his instincts were on edge, screaming at him to move while his pride refused to let him budge. He couldn't even speak first. It would show that he broke down first. So he just sat there, glaring at her as she observed him.

Finally, she smiled that imp smile he had seen her do only once beforehand, right before the weakling found himself tasered in the nuts. He flinched when one of her hands rested on his knee. He narrowed his eyes, growling at her with his best feral growl.

"My, Saiyans can sound animalistic," the woman noted as she used her hand to push herself up, resting her other hand on his other leg, "Do you purr as well?"

"Get your hands off my person, Woman." Vegeta warned her as he narrowed his eyes menacingly.

"Or what? You'll kill me? Then where would you be? Dead along side me when the others hear of it." Bulma told him with a malicious grin, "Sorry your Royal Whyness, but you can't kill me."

"It doesn't refrain me from bring you _close_ to death," Vegeta pointed out, trying hard not to flinch when she slid one of her hands higher on his leg, dangerously close to his groin.

She had made it that he couldn't even close his legs because she was standing in the way and would be obvious that he was taking the defensive side. He could only sit, using every once of self-control not to kill her.

"Ah, ah, ah," Bulma smirked, "You can't do that either. Then who would make your toys? Not me. Not my father. Not even my mother would. You would be out of luck and on the streets unable to get a job because you lack the proper identification to do so and you wouldn't be able to get to your large sum of money from your pay since it is under _my_ family's name. Not yours."

She had him right where she wanted him, he realized grudgingly. He just had to wait till she bored of him or told him what she was looking for.

"You know," Bulma said after a long pause of silence, "I was just thinking, Vegeta."

Vegeta tried not to look worried. This woman and thinking was a bad combo. She was a genius, yes, but allow her to think of anything more than her work, and you got a bad thing going on. He had watched her with her ex-mate and knew that her plus thinking usually meant some sort of trouble for the one she was talking to.

But not to respond back to her, holding his tongue when she had initiated conversation, would show signs of weakness. He had to reply to her.

"What do you want, Onna."

She smiled deviously. So she did want something from him. Her hands tightened their grip on wherever on his legs they were resting, as if to remind him if he ran, he would be showing her that he could be bullied about by her. He would not allow that. He stood his ground… well, sat.

"I was thinking," She began again, ignoring his order for her just to skip to her demands, "You see, I am a very busy woman. I don't care for mundane things like dating or courting. In fact, I am not very keen on the whole idea of marriage."

She paused, looking at him with those blue eyes that glistened dangerously. Vegeta already didn't like where this was going, but he couldn't move. Again with his pride.

"But I do want a child," She continued, "an heir, to be exact, for my company."

He really was not liking where this was heading. He felt one of her thumb pads rub circles on his leg as she continued on.

"However, I am a very picky woman when it comes to genetics. I want a smart child among other things." She paused to take a breath, leaning closer and placing more weight on his legs, "Unfortunately, these genes can't all be found in my species. In fact, there is only one man I know that meets all my requirements. And. That. Is. You."

He had a feeling that she was leading to something that involved him, but he couldn't hide his utter shock at her boldness. His pride forgotten when he fell the chair backwards and pushed himself against the closest wall in shock.

"Me!" He yelped indignantly as a blush dusted over his cheeks, his eyes wide in surprise.

Bulma had caught herself last minute before she had fallen ungracefully to the ground. She calmly righted the chair before strolling up to him like a cat who got the cream.

"Yes," she poked his broad chest with a finger, smiling like an imp as she did, "You."

His heart was hammering in his chest as he panicked. He could deal with life and death situations. Give him a predicament where it involved him risking his life and fighting to the death, but this… this…. This was out of his field of expertise!

He was too busy trying to get stronger than Frieza to play around with whores like the others. Sure, he had his needs, but he never acted on any of them. When he got stressed, he trained more. That was all. No whores, no women, and definitely nothing that Frieza offered to him.

"No way in hell!" Vegeta yelled as he glared at her indignantly, "I am nobody's little pet that they can use to warm their bed. And I don't want brats."

"Aw," Bulma pouted, "Vegeta, I am not asking you to be my sex-slave, you're too eloquent for that. No. I am asking you to give me an heir."

"I _don't_ want a brat." Vegeta repeated, "Even if you were to talk me into your bed I wouldn't give you what you wanted."

Bulma's eyes narrowed, "Look, Vegeta. I am asking you for an heir. There is no one else that meets my requirements. You don't have to do anything. Hell you don't even have to tell him or her that you are his or her sire. You are just the genetics I want and I don't care how long it takes to convince you, because I will eventually wear you down on this."

"Why don't you ask the scarred one for a brat! I'm sure he would love to sire your _heir_." Vegeta hissed, his hackles raised as she got too close to him.

"Nope," she said, looking at him with those determined eyes, "It's going to be you. Yamcha is nice and all… but he'd ruin the genetics with his simplemindedness. He's strong… for a human, but I don't think he cuts it. He doesn't give it his all when he trains, like you. He isn't crafty, like you. He isn't even as handsome as you."

He didn't know if she was stroking his ego on accident or on purpose, but he did know that she was stroking it. Which made it dangerous for him because the more she flattered him, the more inclined he was to listening and he was not going to give in to her.

"The answer is still no," He barked before making a retreat.

His pride be forgotten, he darkly thought, cause caving would be far more worse then just looking weak. He stormed out of the room, not seeing the dark scowl on Bulma's face as she stood there, hands on her hips.

She wasn't happy. Far from it. She had thought that out to the 'T'. He wasn't suppose to reject her. He wasn't suppose to have an ego _that_ big that her words didn't affect him enough to encourage him to give her what she wanted. Hell, she half expected him to say yes just because she would be a nice lay.

Something was miscalculated. She had overlooked something. Pouting she headed up to her bedroom to think. She needed to rethink her tactic. He knew what she wanted now. That was the whole point so he couldn't get mad when she finally did get her way.

She walked past her mother, who was gardening. She smiled as she called to her daughter.

"How goes your little plan sweetie?"

"Took an unexpected turn," Bulma pouted, "I seemed to have overlooked something."

"Be careful with Vegeta dear," Bunny warned as she continued to water her azaleas, "I don't think he's had woman affection placed on him before. No doubt he'll get nervous if you try to give him too much attention."

Bulma paused, looking back at her mother, "How did you come to that conclusion?"

"I know what I see, sweetie, he looked like a deer in headlights," Bunny giggled. "Just like your father looked our wedding night."

She hummed for a moment as Bulma's mind reeled. This was her missing factor. She hadn't known that.

"Just think about his personality, dear," her mother added as she noticed her daughter pausing there, "Does he really look like someone who notices woman when he is focused?"

Bulma wanted to hit her head over and over against the wall from overlooking that. Of course, he would be too focused on killing Frieza when he was under his command.

_I mean come on! He was practically obsessive about it on Namek!_ She thought to herself.

"Thank you mother, I think you solved my problem," Bulma smirked playfully as she retreated back into room to contemplate her next move.

Her mother paused, shaking her head before returning to her garden, "And no doubt made that man's next month a living hell."

But she wanted that grandbaby and if this was the only way to bring these two together, so be it. She quickly adjusted her own plans, readying to subtly bring them together while her daughter was too focused on getting a child.

She wondered what her Teddy was thinking about this. No doubt he was thinking up something to assist her plans. She continued to hum. She was just going to have to wait.

* * *

Ryo didn't like this. Bulma looked too pleased with herself as she worked on her papers. She had come to work today, looking professional as usual, but to Ryo, she looked like a cat about to catch the canary. That canary being none other than her houseguest- Vegeta.

She should have known that Bulma would pick him. She knew he wasn't human and his genes no doubt superior to human genes. She had seen Bulma inspecting Saiyan genetics before and noted how they had a few extra strands of DNA than humans.

She had also noted how well the human DNA and Saiyan DNA mixed perfectly, making a perfected version of both life sources. Apparently, she had been looking at Gohan's blood again because she looked absolutely giddy about this whole idea of hers.

It was really actually perfect. Having a demi-Saiyan as her heir, he would be durable. He would be strong, unmoveable by humans. He wouldn't need protection since Saiyans had a natural knack with ki and almost instinctively could raise their ki and be immune to bullets. They were durable, so no one could kill him in a crash and…

Ryo couldn't help but blush a bit. Vegeta was a very handsome man with no doubt a very nice… rack. Bulma liked the good looking men. Ryo was happy with just a normal human man, but Bulma could read men like she could read a book. Even if it was in a different language, she would eventually be reading it fluently.

Ryo was almost terrified of what mixing Bulma and Vegeta would get them. No doubt a beautiful baby, but a genius with lots and lots of power. Just what Bulma no doubt wanted, but still…

Wasn't this going a little too far?

"Ryo," Bulma called, pulling her assistant out of her thoughts, "Can you go prepare my notes for my meeting? I have to finish this paper."

"Yes Bulma," Ryo nodded heading out.

She sure hoped this wouldn't end up badly.

* * *

That woman!

That crazed woman!

She wanted to use him to.. to… make her an _heir_!

Shouldn't it be the other way around? Should it be that he was demanding an heir of her if this was to happen?

He snorted.

He didn't want a child. He didn't want to sire _anything_, especially _her_ child.

He concentrated on task on hand, practicing his speed and dexterity as he punched over an over, his hands vanishing as he continued. He had to make sure that he could do this right without harming himself.

He had to become a Super Saiyan! He had no time to waste with her. No time to play around with a woman!

He growled as he realized that was always his excuse. He had no time and now he was being cornered by a crazy genius who decided that he was to sire her brat. She wasn't going to relent, he knew this. He knew this very well. She was the only thing in this universe more stubborn than he.

And that was what made a chill run up his spine. Eventually, oh eventually, someone was going to have to win this matter, that was the only way that there would ever be any peace.

But what he worried most about was this:

He was probably going to be the one to give out in the end.

And he hated that fact.

More than the fact that Kakarrott was a Super Saiyan and he was not.


	3. Chapter 3

Hey everyone!

Not much to say. I am glad you guys like the Bulma I am offering you. She makes me laugh because of how resourceful and thoughtful she is. She will make you laugh no doubt by her forwardness and bluntness. I hope I can get you smiling today!

I know I said that last time, but it really still works for what I am doing. It may seem that I am rushing things, but the story really takes place after the next chapter. Plus, I tried to make these different parts all different chapters, but it wasn't working.

I would love some suggestions and please tell me what you think. Put a smile on your face, I am but that's cause I am out for the summer....

Now all I need is a job....

I really hope you'll enjoy.

* * *

**_The Setting Sun_**

Chapter 3

_A Woman out to get her Man_

* * *

**Disclaimer: will never own DBZ**

* * *

_** Note: I have already given you the warning, so I think this will be the last time I put this in here_

* * *

Three years. That was all that this world had before their peace would once again be disturbed. She would once again witness some of the most amazing feats known to man and she would once again sit there useless. She was smart. She could probably build something to help her fighters win, but they didn't want her means of winning. They didn't want her help.

They never wanted her help. They never wanted things to be simple, they just wanted to make everything so much harder and she knew that it was going to bite them in the butt. She just knew that it wasn't going to be as simple as they wanted it to be.

Bulma stared down at the GR. Watching as Vegeta left the safety of his little workroom because he was readying for bed. She had watched since dinnertime until now- she glanced at the clock- midnight the GR running. She was glad that it was soundproof so that the neighbors didn't get upset.

Not like they had too many neighbors anymore. They all had been bought out by Bulma. She liked her privacy here on her own land and didn't think that having a bunch of people poking their nose where it didn't belong was a good idea. Plus she used the houses for family guests visiting long lengths of time.

She smirked as she watched him head inside for his usual shower. She turned in her bed, no longer facing the window, but the door instead, laying in her silk sheets with her silky spaghetti strap nightgown that only went mid-thigh. She was lying in her usual stomach down position as she hooked ankles and waving her legs up and down slowly, watching the door and listening carefully.

She could hear his heavy footsteps as he headed into his bathroom. She could hear him beginning his shower; she knew that he had dropped his dirty shorts in the laundry shoot by now. She smirked.

The water ran for a while, she checked her watch, it read 12:19. She smirked devilishly.

Right when the clock hit 12:20 there was a surprised shout through her half of the compound. Her parents lived on the opposite side of the compound. Since Vegeta was her guest, he lived on her half.

"Onna!" the angry roar of Vegeta's voice sounded as he flung open her door.

Shampoo was still in his thick mane and his hair was still weighed down by the water. She had to admit it looked good. He only had a towel wrapped around his waist, which he was keeping up with one hand, his body still dripping.

She knew his temper would get the better of him. She knew that he would get so angry at her that he forgot that one, he was avoiding her; two, that she might have planned this; and three, that he was only dressed in a towel.

Then again, that could have been because she had happily removed all of his clothes from this half of the compound.

He forgot she might have been planning something when he entered. He didn't even realize that her window, doors, and anything else that could be used as an escape route was now barriers against ki and reinforced so not even he could break them. The door slammed shut, locking automatically with her time set. It wouldn't open till breakfast time.

She smiled as she watched Vegeta seething angrily at her, trying to find words while he was so furious.

"Why…" He gritted his teeth as he tried hard to keep his temper in check, "Why did my water get cold, Onna? Better yet, where are all my clothes!"

Bulma smiled, watching as he slowly calmed down, his face dropping its angry features and pulling into one of terror when he realized _what _had just happened. She never had to say a single word as she just stared at him, the moonlight of the night bathing her in light as she laid there in her tangle of sheets and her nightgown ridding up on one of her thighs.

Vegeta backed into the door, holding his tongue now that he realized that he had played right into her hand. She smiled impishly as she watched him trying to open the door, finding it locked. He glanced down at the door, trying to open it again before trying to use his ki.

She enjoyed the horrified look on his face when he realized he was stuck in her room with not even his ki to get him out in only a towel.

"It's not going to unlock till about seven," Bulma told him matter'o'factly, "It took me a while, but I figured out that reinforced ki barrier. You might be able to destroy it, but you usually take a whole day to overcome my new bots, so I am going to guess you'd just be wasting your energy."

Vegeta looked at her with wide eyes. She could see him hold his towel closer to his frame.

"Relax, I am not going to jump you," Bulma laughed, rolling onto her back and stretching on her bed, her hands stretching out towards him.

She peered up at him playfully, "Though, you might want to finish showering. You have some shampoo in your hair."

When he looked like he was going to refuse, she added, "Or I can always do it. I'm told that I give wonderful bathes."

His jaw shut tight. He glowered at her like she was the most terrible, foul beast-like thing on the Earth. But she knew if she ever wanted this man to comply with her request, she would have to be pushy. He finally headed into her bathroom, slamming her door shut and making sure she could audibly heard the door lock.

She laughed at him as she ran her fingers through her silk sheets. Just wait till he found out that she didn't have anything more in her own room than just the sheets and her nightgown.

She was Bulma Briefs, the most genius person in the universe and she thought of _everything_ when she put her mind to it.

* * *

Vegeta hit his head against her tile in the shower as he finished cleaning himself. He didn't _dare_ touch her stuff, who knew what else she had ready to trap him.

He hit his head again.

How… How _stupid_ was he? He had literally walked into this! He should have thought something of it when he couldn't find his clothes! Not even that ugly pink shirt!!

_Thud._

He hit his head again.

How did he fall for this? He should have kept his temper better. He knew that now. She was using his own flaws against him. Normally he would say that he had no flaws, but he knew he had bad temper and was rather tense around females. No. Not females. Just her.

But that was because she wanted _him_ to sire her child.

No. Not in a million years. No way in hell.

He hit his head again, slowly lowering himself into a squat as he tapped his fists against his head.

_Stupid. Stupid. STUPID! _He ranted to himself.

How did he fall for this?!?

"So you do still have a stub," he heard the woman say from the other side of the stall.

Vegeta whipped his head around as he automatically stood, readying for an attack. He stopped himself when he caught himself turning towards her. He growled as he angled his features away from her.

"Onna, if you know what is good for you, get _out_." He growled.

She pouted, but shrugged, "Fine, be mean."

He thought that he had locked that door. He paused when he heard the door shut. That's right. Mastermind genius. She could pick the lock no doubt with her level of intelligence. He hit his head against the tile again as he turned off the water.

_Idiot._

He got out of the stall, dripping. He shook his hair, getting her whole bathroom wet, but he didn't care, she deserved it. He looked up to grab the towel he had folded and left to use again but found it missing.

She had his towel. Oh _hell_.

He let out a roar of frustration. He was trapped in her quarters without a scarp of clothing and he highly doubted that she would willingly give it back without enjoying herself too much for his tastes. He was not about to beg for it back. He shouldn't even care if he walked about in his birthday suit, but call him a prude or crazy or _whatever_, but he did not like being stared at by this particular female or her dame.

He pounded his head again for getting stuck in here. He could feel the ki barrier now and knew that there really was no way out. She had been right in her general assessment of his skills. It would take him at least twenty hours to learn how to break it and by then her lock would already undo itself.

He didn't know what else to do, so he just sat down where he stood, back towards the door and rubbed his head with this fingers. He didn't even bother drying his body with ki. It didn't matter. If anything, _drying_ would give him something to do since he was _stuck_ in the bathroom.

He tried so hard not to look irritated, but he was. He could not believe how stupid he was. If she had been an enemy she would have killed him by now. Thank Kami she wasn't an enemy. It would be embarrassing to show up in HFIL and face the whole Saiyan race because a blue haired minx brought him down.

At least with Frieza, they all understood.

He must have stopped paying attention, something he would berate himself about later, because next thing he knew something warm and fluffy was dropped on his head, submerging him under the giant thing.

"Stop sulking, here's a towel." He could hear the blue haired woman huff.

"Go away." Vegeta growled, not moving, but definitely angry with himself again.

"Come on, dry yourself. I'll let you have the bed." Bulma huffed.

Vegeta didn't move. Right now he was tired from his heavy training in the GR, exhausted mentally, and could feel the fatigue weighing heavy on his shoulders.

"Go. Away." Vegeta said again, less venom than he wanted.

* * *

What was wrong with this man? Bulma wondered as she watched his form remain still. Why wasn't he getting up? Why wasn't he drying off and yelling at her?

Had she yet again miscalculated?

No. She didn't. She knew that she hadn't miscalculated. There was an unknown variable, that was all.

"Come on," she tried again, trying to stay serious, but she had pulled out her biggest towel that she had (luckily for him she had overlooked her towel stash) and it covered him complete.

He let out a low growl, but it sounded as if he was tired. Strange, she checked her clock, she knew him to be more uppity at this time of night. She glanced back down before withholding a sigh.

Of course he usually was more uppity, but he had been pushing himself lately in an attempt to steer clear of her. If anything he was worn out.

_Well, that's no fun_. Bulma thought, no longer enjoying herself.

She felt bad now that she knew he was this tired. He still wasn't moving, still not drying himself off. She decided that this was unacceptable and he could no longer mope in the middle of her bathroom. She did the only thing that she knew would at least give him a little bit more of his lip back.

She began to dry him so he didn't have to.

He jumped at the initial touch as she began to move the towel up and down on his hair.

"What are you doing, Onna."

"Drying your hair so you can go to sleep." Bulma said, "You are _no_ fun. I'm bored of this now, I'll leave you alone for now."

She kept drying his hair, but soon walked away and out of the room, finding her couch and after stealing the down blanket from the foot of her bed laid there to rest. She closed her eyes, evening out her breath and listening as she finally heard Vegeta move, drying himself and walking out cautiously as if she was going to jump him. She smiled. She had thought of that, but she wanted him to give in to her request, not have to rape him for what she wanted.

She heard a plop and realized he was laying in the bed, dropping the towel on the floor. The sheets rustled and soon she heard him grumbling about freaking silk sheets. She smirked as she thought of something.

She pretended to shift in her sleep, hoping he would like the view.

* * *

Vegeta let out a low sigh. She hadn't jumped him yet. He was surprised by her kindness in the bathroom. He wasn't expecting her to give him a towel. He had literally thought that she was going to leave him in there without even a towel to cover himself.

He tried not to inhale too deeply. The whole room smelled of her and though he hated to admit it, she had a nice smell. Her bed was soft he realized. Though sleeping in commando was not his favorite thing to do, he had done it before. But not with silk sheets and it felt odd.

He heard her rustling and shot his gaze over to her lying on the couch. He relaxed when he realized that she was just shifting to get comfortable.

He kept his stare on her while berating himself for being fearful of her. But, no matter how he addressed the situation he was stuck. He couldn't kill her. She was too intelligent to be killed, a waste of pure genius. He couldn't hurt her, because then he was out on the streets and without the GR and her constant remolded droids that were better every time she fixed them.

Actually, he was impressed, now that he was calmer, on how well she had done. If she was using force. She would have gotten what she wanted. She had him, in a room without clothes, without escape, and without much choice but to put up with her and she chose to let him choose for himself.

Again. He knew eventually he was going to have to give in, because she wasn't going to. Ever. She would keep going till he broke down and gave it to her. But he wanted to make her squirm for it if he had to.

His eyes widened as he quickly shifted in her bed.

She wasn't wearing underwear.

He tried to fight back the blush that he was sporting.

Darn it! Why did women have to be a complete mystery to him!

He groaned as he threw the sheets over his head and just prayed morning came soon and that she wouldn't have the gall to try something.

Right now he was just too tired to fight her off.

* * *

Bulma squatted, balancing herself on the end of her bed frame. Her hands in between her feet. She almost looked like how a feline looked when sitting on the edge of a building. She was calculating something as she sat there, eyeing him like a cat would her prey.

It was way past 7. He could leave whenever he woke up. Hell. She was dressed, though she did enjoy listening him become all flustered because of his full view of her butt. She snickered once she knew he was out because it was just too funny.

Yet, right now she was considering checking his temperature. He never slept in late and the last thing she needed was him moving around it he was sick. She had spent her life growing up with Goku. She taught him his letters, his mathematics, and even made sure his family's needs were met. Food, medical, and even clothes, she made sure they had no wants.

But the thing she knew about Goku was that he could get ill if he pushed himself too far. Not deathly ill, but fatigued to the point that she had to make sure he laid down for a few days before he went back to training.

He had never actually caught an ailment, but his body would try to tell him if he pushed it too far.

Goku's first sign was that he would sleep in. He had a internal clock that never allowed him to sleep once the sun was up- unless Chichi had worn him out the night before. Vegeta was the same. Up at 5:45, take a shower till 6:00, get dressed, be eating by 6:15, off to work till 11:45, quick shower to get rid of the sweat and eat lunch, be back to training by 12:45, stop at 6:45, another shower, then dinner, finish by 7:30, train till midnight, take a shower, and go to sleep.

She knew his whole schedule. He was almost routine. Only breaking it when something needed repairs.

She checked her watch again, 8:15.

Yep. He was sick, well, what she called sick for a Saiyan.

She finally risked moving forward. She lightly hopped off her bed's front board and walked to the sleeping Saiyan. Still without clothes and out like a light.

She withheld a groan. This wasn't what she wanted when she lured him in here. She didn't expect him to be fatigued.

Stupid unknown variable.

She pressed her forehead against his, before pressing her cheek against one of his before pressing her other one against his other cheek. She sighed as she pulled the sheets and blankets up to his chin.

He was down for the count. He was burning up. Albeit, Saiyans had a higher temperature, but what felt like a deadly fever to her was really just him having a small cold.

She wanted to curse as she left the room. She had had the robot staff move Vegeta's clothes back into his room, but since he was sick, he wasn't going to be moving for a while.

Bulma dialed a number after whipping out her cell.

"Hello Bulma," Ryo's voice chimed on the other line.

"Ryo, not going to be coming in. The Saiyan's caught a small cold and if he wakes up I am going to have to convince him training is a no-no."

Ryo laughed, "Oh and here I thought you were going to tell me that you were busy with _other_ things."

"Tch, he is a sourpuss about it." Bulma huffed, "How fairs the board of idiots?"

"Unhappy. But as soon as you announce that your pregnant, I'm sure they'll either A, be more unhappy, or B, be content, or C, both."

"I choose C for 100,000." Bulma said dryly as she headed down the stairs, opening up the fridge to see what she had that would work for Vegeta.

Goku's stomach would revolt if he was too fatigued. He always looked miserable when that happened, but mostly because 'all that good food was wasted'. Still, she wasn't about to discover if Vegeta felt the same way about food.

She pulled out some children's cold medicine, a bowl, a washcloth, and a water bottle.

"Well be careful then, I will send over any documents you have to look over. Good luck with your little spaceman."

"Careful, Ryo," Bulma laughed, "He's sensitive about it. Plus, he might be little compared to someone like Yamcha, but he's taller than you."

There was a pause, "Shut up."

Bulma laughed as she hung up her phone. Ryo was sensitive about her height too.

It didn't take her long to drop off the items next to Vegeta, filling the bowl with cool water before heading downstairs and starting some broth with crackers for him to eat. Goku always whined about eating crackers. He said they were salty and stale and gross. But he was usually acting childish when he pushed it.

"Finish cooking this and contact me when its done," Bulma told a bot before heading back up.

Vegeta was stirring. She thanked Kami he was disoriented. It gave her a chance to get at least the children's cold medicine down him before he put up a fuss. Saiyans didn't need a lot of drugs when sick, so children's medicine worked just fine.

"Morning sleepyhead," Bulma greeted, heading straight for the cold medicine and uncapping it, pushing the whole thing to his lips, "You need to drink this Vegeta."

Unfortunately, he wasn't much like Goku who would drink first ask questions later. Vegeta opened an eye, though it seemed he was having a hard time staying awake, and glared at her best he could despite himself.

"Vegeta, you are stark naked in my bed. Drink this now or I'll take the sheets off."

He took the bottle from her hand and sipped it. She told him when to stop and took back the medicine.

"Water?" She offered, holding out the sealed up water bottle. She knew Vegeta to be suspicious.

He liked it when something was still sealed when he got it, so he just knew no one had contaminated it. He accepted it, breaking the seal and practically inhaling it.

"Remind me why I'm in your bed?" Vegeta mumbled as he handed her back the bottle that was now empty.

"Because you and I had hot passionate sex last night." Bulma said straight face as she readied the washcloth.

He choked on air as he sat up, looking horrified, "What!"

"Relax. You were tired, no fun." Bulma told him before wringing the cloth, "I didn't even touch you, your Royal Whyness."

He seemed to calm down as he relaxed, laying back down against her pillow, "So you really did lock me in here with you?"

"Yep. But you were cranky." Bulma said, resting the cloth on his head, "You overworked yourself. You need to rest."

"I don't _have _time to waste resting." Vegeta grunted as he began to sit up.

"Don't get up," Bulma warned him, "If you want to get better, you need to just let your body shut down for a while."

"Don't tell me what to do Onna," Vegeta grumbled, not realizing his body slowly sinking back into the bed.

"Don't be stupid so I _have _to boss you around," Bulma said calmly, putting the cloth back on his head after it had fallen from its place when he had sat up.

Vegeta didn't realize he had yawned, resituating himself on the bed, "If there is anyone who is going to be ordering anyone about, it is going to be me."

"Yes, your Majesty," Bulma whispered as she pulled the coverings up to his chin again, "Just close your eyes and rest now."

He was out within seconds.

Bulma left the room before cursing. So much for her first attempt. Perhaps her next attempt would be more successful.

* * *

So, she really needed to get this man into gear and be with child as soon as possible. She really wasn't one for waiting. But Vegeta's fatigue crash had forced her to wait. He was a stubborn man and even though she preferred using children's medicine because it worked just as well, she was forced to use the heavy duty knock-someone-out-for-a-couple-hours cold medicine.

He only really gained consciousness to eat, which he complained about because all she gave him was broth and crackers, and promptly conked out afterwards.

By the second night she laid some clean shorts out for him and he had left sometime while she was working in her lab.

Thinking of her next attempt to get into Vegeta's pants was more like it.

She bit her lip as she sat there, contemplating what was going to be done next. So, he knew to stay out of her room now, so there was no point luring him in there again…

But then again, where does he go when he wants to rest?

His room.

She smiled as she discovered her next attempt. She would try a little harder this time and make sure the fatigue variable would not occur again.

It didn't take her long to plot it out and since she had just attacked, he wouldn't be expecting her to try to convince him so soon. She scurried off readying for when she would finally initiate her attack in his room.

It had been a couple days since her idea popped up in her head and once again she had thought it all through.

She was waiting for him as she watched his clock. It was the only light in the room, but she was sure he would smell her… So she had tried to kill her scent with his. Either he was going to be upset cause his sheets smelled of her or that he didn't smell her in the room.

As usual he came up the stairs around 12:05 and he was coming right into her next trap. She smirked, assuming her usual position on her belly, waiting till he entered to move. She was grateful that his bed was not in view of the door. No doubt the only thing Vegeta did to add a touch of his own was moving his furniture just so. His bed was away from the door and he had placed it in a more protective little spot in the room.

No doubt a habit he had acquired. She held her breath as he barged in, cursing under his breath as he headed for the shower, slamming the door shut and from what she could tell in the dark, he was limping or something.

When he flicked the light on in his bathroom, she could tell why he had been cursing. His side had been pierced by one of her droids and he was having a hard time dislodging it. It was touching certain nerves that was causing his leg to stiffen.

Bulma's eyes widened as the door. Locked in again, her just-in-case. But now Vegeta needed medical attention.

Great. Did he do this to tick her off?

She scowled as she hopped off the bed, and walked towards the bathroom, being wary just incase he was like a wounded feral animal. He had yet to remove anything, he really didn't know how to pull the thing out apparently. She let out an audible sigh, alerting him that she was there.

He spun around, wincing ever so slightly as he did and faced her annoyed person.

* * *

He had been working, concentrating so hard on training. The new droids were still a challenge even with all the lazing about he did. The nerve of that woman keeping him stuck in _her_ bed, knocking him out with that disgusting medicine, and keeping his energy low by giving him only broth and stale bread things. He had to work extra hard to make up for the two days he had lost.

He had been on his toes the next day, but she didn't approach him. She saw him when he walked carefully to the kitchen and to his room, but that was it. She never jumped him. He hoped that she had lost interest or was still busy planning. He knew she liked to be thorough.

He just didn't expect it this soon.

He had been careless with her newest model in training today and it had managed to pierce him through and through. It didn't hit anything vital, but a few nerves were being pinched, causing his leg to freeze up.

He had carefully limped back into his room, quickly as possible, to try to tend to his wounds. It wasn't until he actually looked at it in the mirror in the privacy of his own wounds did he realize he was way over his head on this one.

He cursed himself a thousand times over as he tried to pull it out. The droid was broken, but he couldn't get it out. He tried to pull it out, but she had harpooned it, the blasted woman, so he couldn't easily pull it out. He hissed a curse when he so much as touched the thing.

He could feel the blood loss getting to him, but he would rather bleed out than go to the woman or her parents for help. He was in the middle of devising what to do next when he heard the heavy sigh of someone at the door. He whipped around, wincing when his movement jarred his poor wound, just to see the woman standing there in another nightgown, but this time in a crimson silk robe like one.

"I was going to try again, but I can see that you aren't up for being fun," Bulma pouted, "What with you having a hole in your stomach."

Vegeta growled as he backed away from her defensively. His nostrils flared as he took in the scents around him. Her scent was heavily covered by his own, which why he hadn't noticed her when first entering. It made him feel strange with her having his scent on her, almost prideful, but he shook it off as he realized he could feel the ki barrier around his room…

How long had that taken her?!?!

Two, three hours? Or had he really just not noticed?

His head felt dizzy he held his position as she neared him, only really taking a few steps back until he had backed up into the counter.

"Calm down," Bulma warned him, her eyes already set on his wound, "That looks bad 'Geta."

"Get away from me, woman," Vegeta snarled, his face contorted into the aggressive expression of a cornered animal. "And don't you dare call me that."

"You call me woman," She shot back as she neared her, controlling her temper the best she could.

He could see that she was angry at something, no doubt him for getting himself hurt. Well that made two people since he couldn't help but be angry that he had done something so stupid.

"Get away," Vegeta snarled again.

He was trying to dislodge the thing, but as of right now, he couldn't even touch the thing without sending shooting pain up his spine and down his leg.

The blue haired woman didn't back down, if anything she came closer. He was about to snap at her when she grabbed hold of the spike that was stuck and gave it a good shake. Pain shot up his spin, a white light flashing before his eyes before he gave a roar of pain and fell forward. She managed to catch him and direct him well enough that he was on the tile, lying on his side as he tried to keep from blacking out.

"Your body's going to go into shock 'Geta, I need you to stay still while I check to see what you've done." Bulma said smoothly as she began opening drawers and cabinets to see what she could use as a first aid kit.

"This..." Vegeta gasped as he tried to stay conscious, "… is… your fault…" He let out another gasp, "I told you… to get away from me…"

"My fault?" Bulma questioned in semi-annoyance, "The only thing I wanted to be my fault was getting you all aroused and on top of me faster than I can blink. I don't remember planning on you being injured."

She found a first aid kit, pulling in out and plopping down next to Vegeta as she opened it up. She put on Latex gloves before lightly touching the metal harpoon spike.

"Don't… Touch it…" Vegeta growled, unable to do anything but howl in pain as she continued to poke and prod at him and his injury, "Don't… touch _me_."

"Relax, or do you want to bleed out and die?" Bulma asked, continuing her assessment.

Vegeta could hear something click and move in the piece of machinery that laid in his stomach. It made him grit his teeth in pain. The woman made a sound of satisfaction and she pulled the piece out, no longer harpooned at the end.

"How did…" He couldn't finish his question, the air in his wound burned icily as he bled out faster.

Bulma never stopped moving. She was quick as she threaded a needle, sterilizing it, and beginning to close up the wound on one side all while explaining to him.

"I built it. I had to make sure just incase of emergencies such as this one that if it got lodged into anyone's flesh that I'd be able to get it out. The harpoon can be pulled in and out for this very reason."

She was getting blood all over the pads of her feet as well as her legs, but she paid no mind as she finished closing up one side, pushing him on to his stomach to close up the back.

Vegeta thought her brilliant for even thinking up a little detail. It had saved him the pain of her either ripping it out or having her push the whole thing through the wound.

"Breath Vegeta," Bulma told him as she continued to patch him up.

He took a large gulp of air, wondering at what time he had stopped breathing. His head was so foggy from the pain. He wanted nothing more than to just rest. He half cursed at himself for once again needing to rest, and half cursed the woman for seeing him like this.

Once she was finished closing up his wound, she took some anti-infection and inflammatory and made sure his wounds were smothered in them before tugging at his arm to get him to sit up. He did so slowly, resting his back against the cupboards as he looked at the blood that was everywhere. He had really bled.

Bulma as turning on the bathtub- something he never used- adjusting the water, and making the temperature just so. She didn't put a lot of water in it, but she did take Vegeta's arm and tug on it again.

"In you go, strip out of your pants and let's get you cleaned up," Bulma told him as she tugged again.

Despite him suffering a blood loss, Vegeta's face flushed as he looked at her appalled.

"No! I am not about to strip in front of a woman who no doubt doesn't have on any undergarments!" Vegeta yelled.

Bulma didn't get angry like he had wanted, instead she smiled, "So, did you check to see if I did or didn't?"

If possible, his face flushed more. No. It had been on accident the first time. How was he supposed to know?

The woman laughed at him, tugging at the hand she still hand in hers, "Okay, don't take off your training shorts, but let's clean you up a bit."

She crinkled her nose at him, "You stink."

He rolled his eyes, of course he stunk, he had just finished training, even if he had been pierced near the end. He would always later blame it on the loss of blood that night, that everything was foggy, but he listened to her, noticing how his leg was still stiff and numb as he sat in the tub, water reaching up to his waist and soaking his shorts.

Bulma moved for a second, looking for something that must have existed in one of his many bathroom drawers. She wasn't at all nervous of stepping into his blood that drenched the tile while she looked for it. It wasn't like she didn't have it all up and down her legs anyways.

She found whatever she was looking, pulling it out of the drawers and shutting it afterwards. He eyed the hose like movable showerhead. She attached it to the faucet, before turning on the water gently and testing the water. He growled at her when she made a grab for his shampoo and began to lather it in her hands.

"Relax," Bulma told him, smiling as comforting as she could, "I just need to get you clean."

He was about to put up a fuss about her touching him, but it seemed that her comment she had made a few nights ago about being good at giving a bath was correct. The moment her hands went into his hair, he felt ready to purr.

But of course, he didn't. He growled the best he could, but was too weak to fight her off. Not that he wanted to anyways.

She was careful when she cleaned him near his wound. He was too lightheaded to move. She, if anything, kept him awake. If he had been cleaning himself, no doubt he would have passed out.

She would drain the bathtub every so after the blood thickened. When she got to his leg that was still stiff, she paused only a minute. She glanced up at him, seeing how he glowered at her so, then began to use the soap to massage his leg.

Vegeta grunted a bit, growling as he tried to pull it away, but Bulma's grip was firm.

"Hold still, let's see if I can't fix it." Bulma snapped at him before continuing.

"It's bad enough that your even washing me," Vegeta snarled, "You are not about to cause me anymore discomfort."

The wench just pressed her fingers harder into his muscles to try to loosen them up. He bared his teeth, trying to make it through, while all the while she began to hum soothingly.

* * *

Bulma didn't even know how she did it. She wasn't sure how she had managed to talk him into letting her bathe him. She just said soothing words as he just gave her low growls. She had been able to clean him up, dress his wounds after he dried himself off with ki, and gave him enough privacy so that he would change- the prude.

He was sleeping now, once he was sure she wasn't going to jump him. She herself was cleaning up the blood he had made and cleaning herself since she was caked in his. She was frustrated at her second attempt failing.

The unknown factors that showed up threw off her plans. She hated it. She finished cleaning up his bathroom, showering and plotting since she no longer could jump him in his state. She would just have to try again.

When Vegeta woke in the morning, she wasn't there. The door was open and her ki barrier and lock on his door was gone. She was already plotting her next attempt.

Weeks went by, attempt after attempt. Vegeta was wearing down after a while and always looking over his shoulder, looking for her to try again. Every time, he avoided her. But what he didn't realize was it was all apart of Bulma's ultimate plan.

She could see him wearing down, knowing soon he would give her what she wanted. She just had to corner him one last time.

She had kept away from his GR. She knew that it was his last place of refuge, so it was the last place she would take. He had never expected it. This attempt, that is. He thought she would only attack when his long days were done, but no. Today she was going to start the game early.

She had woken early. Making sure not to make a lot of sound as she set up in the GR. She had a mattress on the floor of the GR along with silk sheets and pillows. The place didn't smell as bad as she thought it would. He used the auto-wash at night, which surprised her. She did her hair up nice, dressing herself in soft clothes.

She smiled when she heard him humming. He never hummed in front of others, but she had caught him time to time humming when he thought himself out of hearing range. He wouldn't want to be humanized in anyone's eyes or anything.

She was on her stomach, like always, in the dark, waving her legs back and forth as she watched amused as the latch was undone.

* * *

Vegeta was getting tired. He was constantly having to watch out for the female as she tired to get him to reproduce with her. Week after week, wearing him down and his resolve was about to break. It would be less trouble to just give it to her. Then he could return to his way of life without having her trying to get into his pants.

Once in a while, she would save him, like the night she had patched him up. Or when she had made him rest. He grudgingly admitted to himself that it if wasn't for her he would have been in worse condition than if she hadn't interfered.

He was humming to himself this morning. He was just in a pleasant mood. He didn't know why, but he just felt pleasant. He was humming a lullaby his mother use to hum whenever she put him to bed. Perhaps it was because the woman had yet to try to jump him this morning. That meant he would be home free when he got into the GR.

His song was stuck in his throat when he unlatched the door to see those blue eyes staring at him coyly. He roared in frustration as he slammed the GR door and walked away from the simulator. He paced for a moment, his good mood gone now that she was finally invading his..._ HIS_… GR.

He ran his fingers through his hair a couple times before coming back to the door, flinging it open and glaring at her. Her eyes never wavered from him with that expecting look.

"What do I have to do to make you _leave_ me alone!?" Vegeta yelled as he gripped the handle.

She rolled onto her back, like a dog showing its belly to show that they were no danger as she kept her calm. She was usually as vocal as he was, but he realized that she was playing it cool as long as she was trying to get this from him. He knew what she wanted; she had been telling him all along.

He just wanted the terms.

"I thought we could consult that," Bulma said as she stretched, "I have made my main request, you can add conditions and terms as well as I can."

"I am not going to be a 'father' figure to the brat. I am not responsible for anything the brat does."

"Alright," Bulma nodded, "He is my heir, not yours. He won't even know you're his father if you so wish."

"I do." Vegeta growled as he sat down inside the GR, shutting the door behind him, "I also refuse to be connected to you in any way."

"No passion, just reproducing," Bulma allowed, "Not too much fun, but I'll live."

Vegeta watched her for a while, "How long will we have to do this?"

"We'll go two, three weeks," Bulma said, "If I find myself impregnated before the end of the three weeks, we'll quit. If not, we will continue until I am with child."

"Fine." Vegeta snapped, "Since you have been pestering me I believe you want to start _now_?"

"Please," Bulma purred.

Vegeta couldn't refuse her. She was cunning. She had defeated him in the battle and so he would give her what she wanted. She had made her intentions clear, she was only interested in having a child, there was nothing between them and that was how it was going to stay. There would be no passion, no _love_. Just her on him until she was done with him.

He laid with her that day as well as many days afterwards until she finally with child.


	4. Chapter 4

Hey everyone!

Not much to say here in the beginning... I'll make my notes at the end this time...

But there is a good story that I just don't think is getting enough attention. It is called _The Unexpected_ and it is an B/V AU. Well written with great grammar. Go check it out. It is pretty interesting since it starts out around the 3 year saga, but may or may not go into the android saga at all.

I really hope you'll enjoy.

* * *

**_The Setting Sun_**

Chapter 4

_The Setting Son_

* * *

**Disclaimer: will never own DBZ**

* * *

_** Forewarning: if you are in a really good mood today or are on the teetering edge of good mood and bad mood... today might not be a good day to read this._

* * *

Three years. It was just a little number, but when you compared it to something like 364 x 3 you got a brand new number: 1092 days. Much bigger number. But still, they didn't even have 1092 days left. She hadn't bothered with the math.

If anything, her baby would be born near Christmas. She had poked around asking Chichi about being pregnant with the whole 'I am thinking about settling down and you're the only woman I know who's done it before'. According the Chichi, the gestation period for the baby is only about six months instead of nine and the baby develops quicker. Though, she said that was just if it was Saiyan. Chichi had no clue that was exactly the case.

She was already a month and a half into the pregnancy and besides puking up most of her meals, eating more than usual, and getting easily agitated (scaring the hell out of her employees at times), she now was showing signs of holding life. Her tummy had a pudgy look to it, but she considered it graceful.

Vegeta had been distant, but, of course, it had been expected. He didn't want a child and this was hers. But she never missing the way he would stare at her or watch her stomach slowly expand. He was curious at best. She knew that. She could see it.

Sometimes she wished he had a tail like Goku had when he was little just so she could read all his little twitches in his tail. It was much easier to read a tail. Goku would not always show what he was thinking, but depending on how his tail was acting, she could always figure it out when they were kids.

But she also knew he was getting frustrated. He wasn't improving much anymore, but she decided that was mostly her fault. She had caused a big distraction and despite her coming to his rescue on occasions, she knew that she was little help to him anymore.

In fact, if anything, they were getting irritated with each other. She was on a short fuse, being pregnant, and he… well he was always on a short fuse. It didn't help their situation of constantly arguing and Vegeta always seemed to want to be away from her.

She didn't even understand. They hadn't kissed, they hadn't touched, they had just done as little as possible so they _wouldn't _feel bound to another and here he was acting like a child ready to throw a tantrum.

She wouldn't stand for this. She wasn't about to let him have his own way. This was her child, not his, and even though he had helped, he had already said that the child was not his, disclaiming him.

Bulma licked the spoon that she was using to eat her food with as she watched Vegeta through the corner of her eye. He was watching her again and she didn't really know why. She turned to face him, giving him a good glare before returning to what she had been doing and ignoring him again.

"Bulma-chan," her mother called to her, no doubt going to ask her to do her a favor.

"Coming mom," Bulma yelled back before slowly pulling herself up.

She noticed how tense Vegeta was. Of course it wasn't hard to notice when he was inside rather than outside training. It was very uncharacteristic of him to be relaxing and watching a movie instead of training his heart out.

She felt his eyes on her until the moment that she had disappeared down the hall and towards the garden. She wondered what was going through his mind.

* * *

Vegeta was ready to lose it. Really. He thought it would be better once she was ignoring him and leaving him alone to train. They didn't even make love!! He withheld the sigh stuck in his throat. He was irritated, beyond that, he was flustered.

He had miscalculated something when he had allowed himself into this equation. His natural instinct would never allow her to be left alone as she went through these changes. It was screaming at him about what if something happened and he wasn't there to stop it. It would be disgraceful!!!

That was not all of his problem either. He didn't want to be around her, but the only time he was even in semi-ease was when he was around her, making sure that she as developing well and not in need of assistance. Otherwise he was all nerves and that wasn't helping him gain strength.

But even though he was just following her around because of his natural instinct, he was also curious. He had never been around a pregnant woman. It was amazing to watch her womb become bigger and bigger each day, developing the baby within. Her appetite increased, she was almost always sick in the morning, sometimes the evening, and she would fall asleep in some of the oddest times.

Once or twice he had to keep her from dropping out of a chair or roll off the sofa. Okay, about fifteen times already, but he wasn't counting. He had each time carried her and placed her back in her bed where she _should _rest.

And let's not forget that annoying temper of hers that even he couldn't predict anymore. It was diving him nuts.

And he wanted it to stop.

He didn't know how, he didn't care when, as long as it was soon.

...

...

…And he knew exactly how to solve the problem.

* * *

Bulma headed over to her mother, who was busy tending to one of the pets.

"Oh hello Bulma-chan," Bunny smiled as she stood to full height, looking at her daughter.

"You called me, Mom?" Bulma asked as she took the spoon that she was using to eat yogurt and dipped it back into the container to get more of her food.

"Yes, sweetie," Bunny nodded, "I wanted your opinion on the baby's room. I wanted to get someone on it, but I thought that I should ask what you wanted."

Bulma blinked for a moment before shaking her head, "No, mom, I want to make it myself."

Bunny looked at her with a surprised look, "What?"

"I want to paint it, furnish it, and maybe even design the cradle. I don't want a stranger doing it mom, I want to do it by myself." Bulma said.

"But sweetie," Bunny said with a worried look, "You hardly can stay awake half the time and you've been falling asleep at the oddest times. Right now I think you should just take care of taking care of yourself in this condition."

"I'm fine mom," Bulma waved off, "I just get sleepy sometimes if I sit idle. As long as I keep moving I can stay awake just fine."

"If you say so sweetie," Bunny nodded before she returned to the animals she was tending to, "By the way sweetie, when are you going to finally get yourself a pet?"

"When I find the right one mom," Bulma sighed.

Her mother liked pushing the idea of her having a pet. She did want one, but still had not found the right one. She was going to have a baby too, so she wasn't so sure if getting a pet right at that moment was the best idea. Not like anything could hurt the baby when it was born.

She had no doubt that her child would be as strong as its daddy. She kept her smile hidden as she rubbed her tummy, feeling the difference in her usually flat stomach. Her baby would be as powerful as the man who sired it. No matter how much he didn't want to be in its life, there would be no denying that the child was going to have its daddy's strength.

"Well if that's all you wanted, Momma, I will be going back to the kitchen to get more food. Little chibi-chan is hungry," Bulma said before she began to turn away.

"Alright dear, see you later."

* * *

Bulma blinked as she woke up. It was well after midnight and she knew that no one should be awake, but the sound she heard would have definitely wakened anyone in the house.

She pulled herself and threw herself at the balcony doors just to watch Vegeta's GR simulator that was made out of a Capsule Corp. Space Ship rocket off into the atmosphere.

She spent no time wasting it ogling the retreating object, she headed down to the camera screen that she had made and placed a monitor and camera on his ship. She hit a few buttons and his image popped up on her screen.

"Vegeta," She called out to him.

He paused what he was doing, looking at her with a glare.

"What are you doing? Are you leaving before the androids come?" Bulma asked in anger as she gritted her teeth and glared right back at him.

"No, I would never dream of being a coward and fleeing." Vegeta scoffed, "I am coming back, but right now I need to get away."

She exhaled slowly, calming down before continuing, "Do you have enough food and fuel?"

"Made sure before I left, stop your nagging, I'm not stupid." Vegeta growled, "Maybe now I can get work done."

Bulma laughed, "Alright, I get it. Just don't kill yourself, you want to be around to see the baby be born, right? It'll be around four months from now."

Vegeta sneered at her, shutting off the camera, no doubt breaking it so she couldn't contact him again. Bulma shrugged and went back to bed. It really was none of her concern. She knew he was curious and would want to make sure the baby at least looked like a Saiyan. She was partial to leaving the tail, just because there was no moon.

She turned back to her room, lying back down and closing her eyes. She had more to worry about than one missing Saiyan. He would come back soon, so she didn't have to worry about his chickening out. He just needed time away from her and time to improve.

Soon Bulma was asleep again and dreaming of the future she would have with her little child. She was partial to naming it Trunks if it was a boy. She hadn't picked out a girl's name yet, but she had a feeling that Chibi-chan was a boy.

* * *

Yamcha had been hard at work since he had left Bulma's place. His girlfriend didn't work out like he had hoped. She wanted to settle down and start a family, but he couldn't give that to her. So their relationship broke off and the two of them became interested in other people once more.

Well, she was. Yamcha was still looking around for a nice girl who didn't mind not having children with him. He had yet to find one who didn't want kids one day in the future.

He sighed. Baseball was working out for him alright, but it didn't give him enough time to train for the androids. He knew that he wasn't going to put up much of a chance like Goku or Vegeta, but he wanted to help at least a _little_. Sometimes he could really see why Bulma got so moody when everyone else went off into their own little worlds, trying to protect the world.

She was a genius, but no one actually looked at her like she was any use to them…

Well, except Vegeta. No matter how much he hated the guy, he knew that Bulma was thrilled to be helping, even if it meant Vegeta. She loved being of use, so having someone who could grow off her smarts made her very happy. He had tried once to train with her things, but more then less he ended up getting his butt handed to him on a platter by one of her droids- on level one!

She had a talent and Vegeta could use her droids easily and even break them and let her fix and improve upon them. Neither seemed to realize the chemistry between the two of them, but Yamcha did.

That was why he had left in the first place. He couldn't bare to watch Bulma fall in love with the guy who had helped put him six feet under.

He shrugged as he continued to walk about the strip mall that he was currently hanging out in. He was looking around for another girl to pick up. He knew because of Bulma all the favorite spots of the wealthier single woman and he knew that this section was a mother load.

But all thoughts of picking up a woman came crashing down when he saw the familiar blue locks of his ex-girlfriend…

And her bulging girth.

"B-Bulma!?"

Blue eyes landed on him with a surprised look.

"Oh, Yamcha, hi," Bulma said before her features turned into a sweet smile, "How goes the girlfriend?"

Yamcha really couldn't think of anything other than her widened midsection. He couldn't pull his eyes away from her stomach.

"Bulma," He finally voiced, "You're pregnant."

"Yeah, so?" Bulma asked, looking at him oddly.

Yamcha finally pulled his eyes away, looking up at her with pure shock. He could see that she wasn't embarrassed about it, nor was there a ring on her finger. However, it just seemed so… so… unexpected.

He knew that she wanted children, that's one of the reasons they had grown apart, but he was just so shocked that she had gone out and gotten pregnant.

Bulma could probably tell he was a little surprised at her sudden, well to him, sudden fertilization, so she decided to make it easier.

"Hey Yamcha, do you want to go get a bite to eat? I was out here shopping and I haven't eaten yet, wanna join?"

Yamcha just nodded dumbly, his plans to find a new girl forgotten with this unexpected discovery. He was unable to shake his surprise till they were sitting down at a restaurant. Bulma had set her bags down and was ordering food.

"How long?" He finally blurted out.

Bulma looked at him for a moment before smiling at him, "Not long actually. But this little boy is a little different."

"That's not answering the question Bulma." Yamcha stated.

He knew that she could dance her way around an answer like no tomorrow. She had done it for years and would continue to do such things whenever she felt like it. He also knew the only way to get her to concentrate was to call her out on it.

She took in his state of mind before sighing and giving in. Obviously, she wasn't getting her entertainment from teasing him, so she looked ready to answer properly.

"Four months, one week, and three days." She told him, rubbing her large tummy.

"There is no way that you are that big and only in your second trimester." Yamcha said narrowing his eyes. He knew her game.

"For a normal child, I suppose, but Trunks isn't really normal."

It didn't take long for Yamcha to figure out what she meant, "Bulma, you didn't…"

The gleam in her eyes and the proud smirk on her face told him that she _did_.

"Why?" Yamcha groaned, "Why hook up with a man like that? He'll never marry you, he'll never be a human."

"I know," Bulma said, her eyes darkening, "I never said I wanted to marry him. I don't want to marry _anybody_. Love? I will never know love of a man because of the money my parents have, but I could know the love of a child. Trunks is my child. I talked Vegeta into laying with me, yes, but I never talked him into seeing this child as his or that we were anything like a family."

"So you and him aren't-"

"Nope," Bulma shook her head, "He's not even here. Went to train up in space."

Yamcha couldn't help but let out a small laugh, "Bulma. I never thought that you would do such a thing."

"Do what? Seduce a man into giving me what I wanted?" Bulma asked, leaning back in her chair and rubbing her tummy again.

"No, seducing Vegeta into giving you what you wanted. A child no less! I thought he would refuse you at least."

"He did. It took me weeks to wear him down into finally giving in," Bulma said with a Cheshire grin.

"But… why a baby? Why now?"

So, to Yamcha's surprise, she told him. She told him everything about her company and the events that lead up to her being there now. Yamcha was a little upset that she had planned it before he had even left, but they had grown apart by then.

He knew she would never be his, for reasons he could never tell her, but he still loved her like a sister or a best friend. So even though he was angry at her and her mastermind genius-ness, he knew that she couldn't help it.

She had always been like this. She wasn't spoiled; she worked for what she had, but she was short tempered. She was short tempered because no one understood her and her mind. She was always misunderstood. Her mind worked like nothing he had seen before. She couldn't get stupid people. She didn't get what it meant to be a normal, simpleminded human.

She was one of the few geniuses that could read people, but she had little interest in people. Only a few. Yamcha was just happy that he was one of the few people she could stomach.

"Hey, B," Yamcha said calmly with a small smile on his face, "Would you mind if we hung out more? I miss hanging with my best friend."

She looked at him for a moment before smiling herself, "Sure Yamcha."

* * *

Bulma hadn't thought she would run into Yamcha the one day she was out shopping for Trunks. She had just found out that she was harboring a little boy and he had a tail! She squealed when she saw her baby in the ultrasound.

She could already tell he was going to be as smart as she was and as handsome as his daddy with her beautiful genetics mixed into the pot. She had been getting the last of the needed items when she had run into Yamcha.

She had told him the truth and instead of being angry and storming off, he still wanted to be her friend. He was still willing to take her as she was. She had smiled. They continued on, laughing and talking as it grew late.

After a good couple of hours, she decided it was time for her to head home.

"Hey B," Yamcha said as he too stood up and readied to leave, "Catch you later, alright?"

"Kay, later, Yamcha!" Bulma waved goodbye and headed out to her car.

Bulma got back in her car, revving the engine and heading out into traffic. It had gotten late, but she wasn't too concerned. She was a pro at driving in the dark thanks to her adventures around the world when she was younger. She easily weaved in and out of the traffic as she headed home.

Everything was looking great. She finally had the board off her back, she was going to have a little boy who would never have to worry about sexism, and Yamcha and her were still good. Her mind easily ran over a hundred different things that she wanted to do with her baby once it was born. She was going to treat him like the prince he was, but at the same time make sure he understood what was right and wrong and when and when not to cross those lines.

She would teach him how to cook and they would pick out a puppy when he was older just for the two of them and he would also learn everything from her. She had decided to keep the tail, just so it was like watching Goku all over again. She would know when he was happy and when he was sad and when he was agitated.

She could almost imagine his beautiful locks of hair, which would be straight lavender. His eyes would be blue and he would have the cutest giggle in the whole world. No one would pick on him because he wouldn't stand for it and he would make amazing friends just like she had.

Bulma was almost home. She turned into the next lane of the freeway, ready to take the next exit when there was a sudden flash in front of her.

There was no time to react, no time to move, only watch in horror as the car in front of her became intertwined with her car.

She only remembered her thoughts flashing to Trunks.

* * *

Vegeta stopped his hand as the cup he was about to hold crack and chip. He stared at it for a moment before a sense of dread ran up his spine. He had studied the culture that the woman had come from long enough to know the superstitions that her culture believed.

A crack in a tea cup was bad news. Vegeta wasn't a very superstitious person, but for some reason he felt as though something had gone wrong. He had finally been able to train without worrying about Bulma, but now with this foreboding sign, he couldn't shake the uneasiness that rose in his chest every time he woke up.

He swore under his breath as he got up and set the ships co-ordinates to Earth. The estimated time was two weeks to three, he only hoped that he wasn't going to arrive in time to have do something ill, like bury the woman.

His chest stirred uneasily. He could take a lot of hardships, but he had realized that he felt a kinship with her. She was brilliant, one of a kind, and she knew it. She was at the top and all alone, fearful of others and their offerings to her. She knew who was to be trusted and everyone else was not to be trusted until proven otherwise.

He was like her in a way. He didn't trust many people either. She was one of the few that he allowed to near him and to touch him and speak to him unhindered. She had earned that with her sharp mind and constant kindness to him. She could have had him many times when she had been begging for a child, but never once crossed the unspoken line until he had allowed her to.

She never forced herself onto him. For that, he had built a relationship with her. Albeit, the relationship consisted of yelling and fighting and proving himself better than her toys, but there was a relationship.

And grudgingly he would admit to only himself that there was a bond between them. She had not shown him the touch of a lover, but she had allowed him a future. Though he would never tell the brat he had sired him, he was still pleased to know that even if he was to die, his existence would not be wiped from the universe. It would live through his bloodline.

And he was grateful for that.

He headed back to the kitchen to finish his meal, looking one more time at the chipped cup before throwing it away.

He just hoped that the feeling of loss that swept through him was not the loss of that woman. She was irreplaceable to him in both mind and spirit.

* * *

__________

_There he was, her baby with the pretty lavender locks of hair. He giggled as he moved away from her. She tried so desperately to hold onto him, but he pulled farther and farther away from her._

____

_"Trunks! Baby, come back!" She cried out as she tried to pull closer._

____

_The baby paused for a second, reaching out and touching her. She could feel his energy flowing through her. She tried to pull closer to him once more, but something pulled her back._

____

_She could feel herself being torn from her child._

____

_"Trunks!" She cried as the baby continued to go forward till he crawled to the feet of someone else._

____

_Bulma looked up to see a woman garbed in white robes. Her hair was black and straight, falling to her ankles. Her eyes were black and she had a hard look to her, but when she looked down to the baby that hardened tone fell into one of gentleness. She bent down and picked the baby up, mindful of his tail._

____

_"Trunks," Bulma cried as she raised her hand to reach for him, "Please, give me back my baby."_

____

_The woman shook her head, "I cannot."_

__

_"Why not?" She whimpered as the tears fell down her face._

_"The child has transferred his life ki into you. Unfortunately, because he gave up his natural life ki, he cannot be revived by your wish dragon. He cannot be brought back," she replied, " However, he wishes for his mother to continue to live. You're time on Earth is vital and he could sense that."_

_"But my baby, my Trunks," She whimpered again, "I want to stay with him."_

_"No," she shook her head again, "It is not your time."_

_Bulma could feel the force pulling her further away as she tried so desperately to pull closer to this woman holding her baby._

_"I will watch over him and he will be safe in the Gardens of Eden." She assured her, "I will always watch him and one day, when it is time for you to actually come again the these gates, we will not deny you entrance. You are one of us now. But until then, live well."_

_Bulma could only nod her understanding. It was yet time to die for her, but it didn't mean that she would escape her sorrow…_

_"Take care of him." She begged as the force finally pulled her away._

_"I will care for my descendent with all my heart."_

_Bulma could only gasp as she saw the many faces of the people that lived there. She stared at each one as they all looked at her. All of them watching her as if she was the last hope they had. Images flooded to her head and even though it hurt, they soon all began to fade like the Garden of Eden to the back of her mind._

_Another white flash took place, blinding Bulma.

* * *

_

"Trunks!" Bulma cried out, pulling herself up into an upright position.

She was breathing heavily as she looked around, disoriented as she looked about the bland room.

"Bulma-chan?" She heard her mother's voice from next to her.

Her head whipped over to look at her mother who looked at her with a relieved but tearful expression.

"Oh my baby," She cried as she latched onto Bulma, hugging her as she cried, "You're awake! You were in an accident and if Yamcha hadn't sensed your ki suddenly drop you would have died!"

"Momma?" Bulma asked weakly.

She was scared. She couldn't feel life within her womb anymore. She wanted to feel the security of knowing her baby was alright, but she couldn't feel him anymore. She couldn't feel anything but a void and darkness.

"Is Trunks, okay?" Bulma managed out, looking at her mother, pleading.

"I'm sorry baby," Bunny whispered as she stroked her daughter's face, looking at her with sorrowful eyes, "I am so sorry."

"No." Bulma said as she shook her head in denial, "No. I don't believe you." Her eyes filled up with tears as she pulled away, "I don't believe you."

"They tried to save him, but by the time Yamcha had even gotten you here-"

"No! He's not dead," Bulma cried out as her fears had been confirmed.

The life she had held within her for several months, the life that she had fought tooth and nail to get, had been wiped out in a second's time.

"Yamcha said he felt the ki of the baby transfer into you," Bunny continued as she petted her daughter's hair, "I'm sorry Bulma-chan."

"No!" Bulma sobbed as she covered up her face as tears rolled down her cheeks, "No!!! Trunks!!! Trunks!!!"

She didn't hear the doctors come in or notice when she began to trash. She could only remember her baby leaving her, crawling to the arms of that woman. She remembered feeling the ki transfer. The life that had been given to her that her child gave to her. She believed in her dream. Trunks could not be wished back to life.

She had failed to protect her little boy. She had failed him before his life began. She had failed as a parent.

"Trunks," she whimpered one last time before the darkness swept over her and brought her to dreams of what could never be.

* * *

Yeah. I know. I really just wrote that. Now before you all get angry and huffy about what just happened. This is an AU. A butterfly effect has just occurred and even though it was hard to read... Imagine having to write it.

As one of my favorite authors wrote after brutally killing off Konohamaru in a Naruto story called Melt where he was the_little brother_ of Naruto instead of just some kid:

PudgyPudge author's note for chapter 30 of _The Melt_:

"_I am very dissapointed in some of you. War is not a game. Bad things happen to good people. Children are not immune to the ravages of war. There are casualties and that is a fact. Did you ever watch Gladiator? Did you feel sorry for Maximus when he found his wife and son hanging from the rafters of his house? Did you blame the writers of the movie for that scene or did you simply feel sorry for the character? For those of you who wrote in your reviews and PMs that I killed Konohamaru, you are doing yourself a diservice. I wrote the chapter, but Orochimaru ordered the slaughter of the Sarutobi family. Try to keep that in context. It's a story, folks. Let's try to keep it that way. Think of it this way. I made you feel something. Isn't that what I was supposed to do? You felt emotion. I did my job._"

Brutal for writing what I did, but I didn't kill him and it was needed for this story. You'll see in later chapters the effect that it has on the characters as a whole. And the words of PudgyPudge are very inspiring... go try reading the story. It is amazing (all his works are and most of them are complete)

I still feel bad... sorry. Please don't hate me -_really sad face.-_

Volleys-chan

(Aka: Volleys the Dragon)

_Sniffle,_ now where are those romance comedy books I have. I need to go feel better.


	5. Chapter 5

Hey everyone!

Alright, I thought I should at least make it a nice Mother's Day by updating and showing you that it had a little hope. I hope this makes you guys happy... especially after I killed off Trunks. Sorry, but I decided I had to in order to break the norm of the B/V fanfiction domain.

Again, go read 'The Unexpected' by The nevermore. Really good and awesome plot twist!

I really hope you'll enjoy.

* * *

**_The Setting Sun_**

Chapter 5

Piecing it Back Together

* * *

**Disclaimer: will never own DBZ**

* * *

Three years till everyone died. Three years till doomsday. Three years till she could finally rest with her little boy in the Garden of Eden where he was being taken care of. Nothing else mattered. She just needed to wait till her three long years were up on this planet. Then she would be able to hold her son in her arms and hear him laugh and giggle.

Her precious, precious child.

Bulma bit her lip, trying hard not to cry again. She didn't want to be alive. She wanted to be with her son, her baby. Why did he have to give her his ki? Why did he make it so not even the dragon could bring him back?

It wasn't fair, she had decided once her mind was conscious again. It wasn't fair that he was dead while she was alive.

She sniffled as she rubbed her face into her pillow. She was home now, slowly but surely gaining her strength back from the accident. She didn't care.

Yamcha had come to visit her almost everyday, talking, and trying to act as if everything was going to be alright.

It would never be _alright._ She had lost him. She had lost Trunks and what was worse was that she had failed him.

She had failed to protect him, she had failed to take care of him, and she had failed to bring him into this world.

Failure. _Failure. **Failure.**_

She could hear the word repeat over and over in her head. She couldn't stand being a failure. She didn't want to have failed the one person in her life that solely depended on her strength…

And yet she had failed him. She had failed.

Bulma Briefs, the woman who always got what she wanted, had failed.

She heard knocks on her door, but continued to lie on her bed. She could hear someone try to open her door, but she had locked it. Soon she had hear cursing.

It must have been Yamcha. Only he would know the ki barrier was up and all attempts into her room were useless.

She just wanted to be alone. Why couldn't they see that? Why did they insist to talk to her, to bring her food, to take care of her?

She just wanted to be with Trunks…

Was that so much to ask for?

* * *

Yamcha cursed again as he tried to get into her room.

It had been almost three weeks since the tragic accident. Three weeks since she had lost the baby, barely surviving the wreck herself. She was healing well enough. Her body anyways, but her soul was shattered and he didn't have the ability to pick up the pieces for her.

She needed extreme medical attention and had only come home in the last week. She was restricted to bed rest, not even allowed to get up and use the bathroom. She had a catheter for that.

Her face had remarkably only suffered a gash on her forehead, which would fade into nothing, the doctors told them. She had suffered a broken sternum, several ribs, one broken arm, her whole right leg was in a cast, and her pelvis bone was broken. She had gashes, stitches, and bruises as well, but all those would fade in time too. They said that she would still be able to have children in the future and she was lucky that she hadn't lost that ability. She didn't look to excited, but then again, she had just lost her baby.

But the thing no one bothered mentioning to Bulma was the fact that she had been pierced through and through her abdominal. Yamcha had almost dropped her when he had been flying her to the hospital because suddenly the wound closed up enough that she would live and the doctors couldn't find any damage internally. A miracle.

Yamcha had tried to get her a senzu bean, but Karin told him that he thought that this would best work itself out if she healed on her own. If she was able to move too soon after a loss like the one she had suffered, then she might be rash enough to go get herself killed. Her immobility at this time was her greatest protector.

He hated to admit it but Karin was right.

Bulma had completely shut down on them.

"Come on Bulma!" Yamcha yelled again as he pounded on the door, "I don't know how you locked yourself in, but you need to undo it _now_."

No response as usual. She hadn't spoken for weeks.

Yamcha just stood there, pleading to Kami that something, _anything_ that would pull Bulma out of this would happen.

He couldn't believe it when he heard the sounds of a landing ship and the felt the tremors of the ground shake slightly beneath him. He looked up the ceiling, wondering if praying really did work like that. He'd think about that later. Right now he had to go get the only person in the universe that he knew that could _break_ Bulma's toys.

Bunny was already heading outside. No tea, no goodies to offer, just her standing there with the morbid look she had been wearing since the accident. Yamcha couldn't blame her. They all felt terrible.

Dr. Briefs sat in the kitchen, smoking as he watched his wife wait for the Saiyan. Yamcha knew that Bunny was going to be the barer of bad news, but why did have to be her? Because she wasn't afraid of Vegeta like everyone else?

Yamcha couldn't take it. He headed outside, resting a hand on Bunny before giving her a sad smile.

"It's alright Mrs. Briefs, I'll speak to Vegeta."

Bunny nodded before heading back inside to sit with her husband. There was little she could do for her daughter but trust in her daughter's judgment of men.

He was terrified. He was absolutely terrified of this confrontation, but he knew it had to be him. Vegeta might try to lash out upon hearing of the death. He knew Bulma said he disclaimed the child, but even Yamcha knew that Vegeta couldn't get over the swell of pride of having a child. He was too immoderate to not care, despite how much Yamcha hated to admit it.

Vegeta would have watched over the child.

So, he stood his ground as he watched the ramp come down. Any thoughts of fleeing thrown to the wind now. He needed Vegeta to save his best friend, because he knew that only this man could do were others failed…

Including him.

Vegeta had impressed Bulma.

* * *

Vegeta had tried so hard to fight off the sense of dread on his trip back. He had trained his heart out and now, he didn't have to wait any longer. He was here and could prove to himself that there was nothing wrong.

Nothing was wrong. Nothing could have possibly gone wrong in his absence. He was just being paranoid.

Why? He didn't know.

That sense of dread rose to his throat as he stared at the first person who greeted him. It was the weakling, Yamcha.

But at this moment, he looked anything but his typical cowardly self. He looked like a man facing on the grim reaper without any care to how it would end.

Vegeta could feel the contents of his stomach rise to his throat, but he swallowed, not allowing it to rise. He walked towards the human male and stood in front of him, arms crossed and looking up.

"What?" Vegeta asked.

He would have loved to be more cruel then that, but his jitters were getting worse just by being there. Almost close enough to check on Bulma and make sure she was well.

"Sit down Vegeta," Yamcha said, not sure why he was telling Vegeta of all people to sit.

He looked surprised when Vegeta complied wordlessly, sitting Indian style on the grass right in front of him.

"What." Vegeta said again.

He didn't have time for this. He needed to get rid of these feelings. He needed to be able to concentrate again and not be so worried. He would have scoffed once upon the time about being worried about _anybody_ but himself, but he couldn't stop his instincts from screaming at him. Something was wrong.

"It's about Bulma," Yamcha said, trying hard to make himself as clear as possible and make sure that Vegeta didn't interrupt him, "Almost three weeks ago she got into a car accident…" He noticed how Vegeta immediately stiffened, "Vegeta, she lost the baby."

A cold streak ran down Vegeta's back as he sat there, wide eyed, and feeling ready to fall over limp at those words. If he _had_ been standing, he highly doubted that he would have been after hearing that.

"She… lost… the child?" Vegeta finally asked, after what felt like an eternity of just trying to wrap his mind around that.

Losing a child was devastating. He knew. His mother's sister had lost one before. It had devastated her so much that she died shortly afterwards. Saiyan children created special bonds with their mothers during their time in the womb. To sever that… was like…

Vegeta jumped up, "The woman?"

"She's pretty banged up," Yamcha told him with a sad gleam in his eyes, "What's worse is ever since she learned of her baby's death…"

He looked away, trying hard not to cry. Trying hard not to blame himself for not going with her and making sure she had gotten home safely.

No matter how much he hated Vegeta… He loved Bulma more. If the key to getting her to open up again _was_ Vegeta, then he would do anything to make that man unlock her heart. Beg, plead, cry, grovel, and even to forget and forgive the man for what he had done to him; anything to save Bulma, his best friend, his little sister.

"She has some sort of ki barrier up around her room and she locked herself in. She can't get up and… and she's pretty much just waiting to die." Yamcha told him. "Look, I don't know if you care if she lives or dies Vegeta, but please try to talk her back into some sort of sane state. She might listen to you. You gave her what she wanted… You gave her something I couldn't and now she suffers because she must think herself a failure! Bulma has never, ever lost! Not like this! She doesn't take failure well. Please…" Rebellious tears fell from his face as he dropped to his knees and lowered his head, "I beg you! Go snap her out of it!"

Vegeta was gone before Yamcha could even register it.

His instincts cried out to him as he ran as fast as he possibly could to her door. He didn't know why he was even acting this way. They didn't love each other. They hadn't even had any sense of passion in their time together. Just her on him till he gave her what she wanted.

So why was he so desperate to get in there? Why?

He couldn't answer that question, but he was too busy to even think too deeply into it. The weakling had been right. She had used that blasted Ki barrier to keep them out. She was a smart cookie.

He still felt sick. He still felt like retching up all his food, but he needed to get in there. He stood at the door, closing his eyes as he concentrated on the ki barrier. He hadn't bothered to learn how to defeat it because he had never been given the proper amount of time with the thing, but even now, he wasn't able to spend all day on it. He needed to get in there and he needed to get in there _now_.

He could feel the level of which the ki barrier buzzed with power. He only had to match its frequency and no doubt over-stimulate it and destroy it. The only problem was matching the frequency to a T.

He had to try. He had to get in there and he could feel the dread gaining power on him. He concentrated all he had, pushing his ki to that level of power only to be short by just a few digits. He growled. He would not, could not, let this be.

He kept his thoughts on her, trying so hard to raise his ki those needed digits. He could feel the weakling running up the stairs and staring at him from across the hall, but that mattered little to nothing to him. He wanted through this door and so help him, he was going to get through this door.

His mind flashed back to his aunt's look of despair. It only made him concentrate more.

Suddenly, he could feel his ki rise above the needed amount of ki. He didn't understand why it suddenly was so easy for him but he didn't spend a moment's thought on it. He adjusted his ki to that level and listened as the barrier disengaged, then dropped the level to normal as he broke the lock and headed in.

He slowed himself down. He had to. He couldn't make her anymore upset than she already was. He could feel how heavy her heart was and he had yet even walk through the threshold of her door all the way.

He hadn't even heard the weakling gasp or heard the words that had been spoken to him. Right now all that mattered was Bulma.

* * *

She had heard the lock on her door break, but that didn't mean she looked to see who it was. She just thought it was Yamcha. He would come, pull up a chair, no doubt lecturing her on doing something so dangerous, then try to get her to open up.

She kept her eyes closed and buried in her pillow.

Instead of pulling up a chair, though, she felt someone sit down on the bed. Nothing else was done for a time. Just someone sitting on the bed, watching her.

She couldn't take it after a long while. Why weren't they saying something? Why didn't they lecture her about _something_?

After weeks of silence, Bulma finally found something to say.

"Well?" She asked bitterly, not bothering to look up or open her eyes, "Are you going to say something? Like how it _isn't_ my fault? That _I_ had _no_ control over it? That _I wasn't_ the one who _failed_?"

Her voice as weak and raspy from not using it for such a long time.

"No." That all too familiar voice told her, her eyes opened to see the one person she had dreaded to see for the last few weeks sitting there on her bed.

"I don't need to tell you anything about that," He told her with a stern voice, "Because it doesn't matter."

"What do you mean _it doesn't matter_," Bulma yelled as she tried to sit up, "That child was my baby! It does so matter whether or not he lived! I want my Trunks back!" Her eyes felt wet with tears again, "I want my baby boy back! Trunks!"

Vegeta listened to her as she wailed. He realized that she had named the baby before it had been born. The connection had been deep and now she suffered from the unexpected devastation.

"He's not coming back," Vegeta told her. "No matter how much you cry and weep for him, he's not going to magically come back to you! He's gone!"

"I _know_!" She shouted at him, "I _know_ he's gone! I _know_ he is the only reason I lay here today alive! I hate it! I want to be with him! But he just _had_ to save _me_! I didn't want to be saved! I wanted him to live! Screw me! I wanted him to live!"

Vegeta stared at her as she began to sob again. His heart felt like it was twisting in knots listening to this… this mutiny!

"How dare you," Vegeta managed to say, his temper rising the more he thought of it, "How dare you waste what little he had to offer you!"

Bulma stopped crying as she looked at him horrified. He didn't stop there to let her think up an answer of her own, no he was going to lay it out for her.

"How dare you take what little your son had to offer you and step on it like it was trash beneath your feet! It might have been your duty to bring him into this world, but it was never your duty to protect him from the unknown tragedies that litter our lives. He knew you would die and because he loved you he gave you the only thing he could even offer you! His ki! His life ki!"

He had figure that was what the boy had used to keep his mother alive. That was all the child could do anyways, transfer life ki into her.

"Death happens everyday! Sometimes in little numbers and some times it is your whole freaking planet! You learn that it is unavoidable! You learn to accept that or you will slowly be eaten alive by it! You were given a gift! A precious gift by a child who hardly knew you but no doubt would die again and again for you and you waste it by rotting away?" Vegeta took a moment to breath, reigning in his temper, "What do you think would happen if you died as well? The amount of sorrow you would bring to your family? Your friends? You selfish child, open up your eyes to see that what you are doing affects everyone else!"

With that he got up and stormed out of her room to let her think. She would need time to think about what she was doing. She needed time to let her soak in what he had said.

He pushed past the weakling who was trying to tell him something and headed to his own quarters, slamming his door to make sure no one bothered him.

Once he was alone, his guard dropped and he ran to the bathroom and retched what remained of his earlier meal into the toilet. His body shook and trembled as he tried so hard to keep himself from doing what the woman had been doing.

She thought she had failed?

He was the one who was suppose to protect them. He was the one whose instincts told him what his duty was and he had ignored it in order to try to reach the Super Saiyan level…

He was the one who really failed.

Trunks…

He would never get to know his first son. The one that never made it into the world because of his bravery and his father's stupidity.

He knew it would be hard, but he was going to offer her another chance once they both healed from this failure and loss…

But next time, it would be different. He vowed that to himself on his honor as the Prince of all Saiyans.

* * *

Bulma just sat there where he had left her. She wasn't suppose to be sitting up and she could feel the pressure against her poor bones. It wasn't until Yamcha came in and gently began to push her down did she snap out of her state of shock.

Suddenly, she realized how much pain she was in. Her world came flooding back to her when she realized how much she actually felt. Tears were forming again, but this time they weren't because of all that she had lost, but because of all that she had not realized was affected by her.

"B?" Yamcha whispered as he looked at her.

He could see that she finally registered that he was sitting there, looking worried about her.

"I'm sorry."

It was faint, but he had heard it. He smile weakly as he pressed her lips on her forehead, careful of the gash on her head that was healing.

"It's okay. You just needed to wake up."

"Are momma and papa alright?"

"Yeah, just worried. Are you okay?"

"Just tired… could you… could you go check on Vegeta… and tell him I'm sorry… He's right… I'm acting selfish."

Yamcha nodded. It was like a cloud that had swallowed her up whole had finally been removed and she was allowed to see again. To think beyond her loss. He didn't know how long it would last, but he was going to take it as long as it came.

"It's understandable B, you lost someone you love," Yamcha soothed her, "You are allowed to mourn. But come back to us, alright?"

Bulma nodded. Her eyes closed, and soon she was asleep. Yamcha sat there a moment longer before heading out of her room to go tell her parents she was alright and _maybe_ check up on Vegeta…

Right now he had a feeling Vegeta was in no mood for company.

Oh, and he probably should tell the guy he had actually turned Super Saiyan when he was trying to break the ki barrier…

Okay… he'd tell him later… just a little later though…

* * *

Yamcha had temporarily moved back in from what Vegeta could figure out. He was at the meal, eating with the woman's parents.

Vegeta, himself, really didn't want to _be_ there. He wanted nothing more than to stay upstairs in his room, but his Saiyan stomach wouldn't let him. So he had come downstairs to get food. Bunny was preparing a tray for Bulma, not yet noticing Vegeta's presences as she spoke to the other two in the room.

"I hope with Bulma-chan feeling better that she'll eat something," Bunny said as she finished putting the tray together, "She's hardly touched any of her food since…"

She didn't finish her sentence. Everyone in the room knew.

"Yamcha," Bunny said, finding her voice again, "Could you run this up to Bulma-chan for me?"

"I'll do it," Vegeta said gruffly, walking in and picking up the tray before anyone else could respond.

He turned on his heels and headed up the stairs back to the woman's room. He had given her enough time to think about what he had said and enough time to come around in general. He found his way back into her room, wondering why he had even jumped at the chance to give the woman her dinner. That is, until he saw her state again.

He quickly sat down next to her on her bed again and watched her for a moment. Her eyes opened and looked up at him, then at the food. She probably could tell what he was expecting from her, so she shifted until she as able to sit up enough without straining herself and motioned for the tray.

"So, you are going to eat?" Vegeta asked in a stern no nonsense tone as he placed the tray on her lap.

"Yes," she said as she took a fork in hand and began to poke at her food.

Vegeta watched her for a moment before thinking of something else, "I know humans like to prescribe an insane amount of drugs when one of you become wounded, where is your medicine?"

She pointed to her bedside table at the little orange bottle. Vegeta was somewhat relieved that she hadn't thought of overdosing on the medicine in her state of thinking. He would need to take the medicine away just incase she had a relapse and tried to take her life.

He watched as she poked at her food. She did try to eat some things, but soon, her eyes dulled and he could see that she was no longer interested in her meal. However, he wasn't about to let her get away with not eating.

He was going to show her what happened when you didn't eat.

He took her fork from her hand and swiftly began to eat her food. She didn't protest. She just watched half-curiously as he thoroughly chewed her food and swallowed it all. She had thought that he was going to cover for her till she got her appetite back, but had a sudden change of thought once he had pinned her to her headboard with his lips covering hers, pushing her mouth open as he transferred the food.

He could hear her making protest to it, but he made sure not to let her have her way. He could smell the tears rolling down her cheeks as he finished transferring the food. That was something that Saiyan males normally did for their children when the mothers were either gone or dead. They would eat the food, them regurgitate it back up for the baby to swallow.

By the time he had pulled away and looked at her, he had already figured that this was not the same in the human culture.

"Ew," Bulma whispered weakly, crinkling her face in disgust.

"Then eat your food next time." Vegeta told her before handing her the glass of water and grabbing her pills, "When are you to take these?"

"Every couple of hours," Bulma told him as she sipped her water to get rid of the taste of already eaten food from her mouth.

"Are you in need of them currently?" Vegeta asked, raising a brow in a questioning glance.

"I don't like them. They make everything foggy," Bulma confessed.

Vegeta rolled his eyes. Of course, she would not like them. She loved her sharp wit and even with her current state of mind she hadn't even thought of taking away the pain. He quickly read the label, dumping one into his hand and quickly pushing it to her lips.

"Then I will assume you haven't been taking them." He said in a very calm tone, "Open your mouth and swallow it. You need to rest to recover and I know for one that your doctors, no matter how pathetic their practices are here on Earth, prescribed these for a purpose."

"But I don't-" she managed to start without opening her mouth wide enough for the pill to be shoved in.

She was cut off by him pulling her jaw open further and holding it shut once he had pushed the pill in.

"Swallow." He commanded her, his eyes narrowing as he easily held her mouth shut.

She was too tired to argue and her dreams were littered with nightmares and painful thoughts. She swallowed visibly so he could tell she had done as he had asked. His hand was removed from her person. Once again, she was offered a sip of her water, which she took.

Vegeta set her water on her bedside table, picked up the tray and held her bottle of medicine in his grip.

"Go to sleep." He told her before heading out the door.

She grumbled as she shifted down. That's all she could do now that he had given her her medicine. She hated how fast it acted and was out before she could even realize the tables had turned. Now he was taking care of her.

Vegeta went back downstairs, setting the tray down and still holding onto her medicine. He sat at the table without a word and began to eat. Halfway through his meal he noticed the weakling staring at him, then he noticed the sire and dame of the woman staring at him as well.

"What?" He growled as he stopped eating for a moment.

"Did she eat her food?" Yamcha asked skeptically.

Vegeta hadn't been up there too long only about half an hour. How did he get her to eat it all within that time frame.

"Of course she did," Vegeta growled before setting the bottle of medicine on the table, "I don't know what idiot thought of leaving this near her, but if she ever had the notion of ending it all, she would have had this within arms reach. This is to stay away from her unless she is taking one."

Yamcha nodded dumbly, "Okay Vegeta… thanks."

"I don't need your thanks," Vegeta growled before he began to eat again.

"Did she talk?" Yamcha asked after a moment longer.

"A little, enough to remind me what a pain she is," Vegeta grumbled.

He was about to continue eating when Yamcha opened his mouth again.

"Okay, since we now know that Bulma is taken care of… Are _you_ alright, Vegeta?" Yamcha asked.

He still didn't care much for Vegeta, but he believed he had just caught a glimpse at what Bulma saw in him when he had broken the ki barrier. He caught another glimpse when he had taken the food up to her as well. If Vegeta was not a monster like Bulma said, then he probably was suffering as well.

"I'm _fine_," Vegeta snapped, "It's not like I haven't suffered loss before."

He was use to people dying around him. Losing everything.

"I know that," Yamcha pressed again, "But are you _alright_?"

Vegeta just continued eating, finishing his meal for the night and quickly got up and storming out of the room without another word.

No, Yamcha discovered, though he was better at handling loss…

He wasn't alright with it either.

Yamcha took the bottle of pills and decided to hold on to them. Right now, he felt like he was the _only_ one in this household that wasn't tempted by their ability to end the suffering.

"Hey Mrs. Briefs," Yamcha said as he looked at the blonde woman, "could I move into the compound for a bit? I know I've been using a guest room, but I think I might need to play referee for a while."

Bunny nodded, "Yes, I think that will be alright. You can stay on our part of the house. I don't think we should interrupt those two while they suffer through this."

"Alright, thanks," Yamcha nodded gratefully.

Dr. Briefs, who had stayed quiet, sighed. He and his wife weren't good at this. He could tell his little girl was suffering, but his wife and he were no good at understanding other people. Bunny was better at it then others, but neither of them were good at reading people. They were geniuses of technology and biosciences, not psychologists. They had no clue what as running through their daughter's head as she struggled to find a reason to push on.

He just hoped that Vegeta would be able to bring his little girl back because both he had Bunny had not been able to. She had remained despondent to them, but Vegeta…

He had gotten her to snap out of it, if only for a while. They would just have to play it day by day until she was better mentally. Physically she was healing well… but it was all about how she mentally recovered from the loss of her child that made him worry.

"Oh man," Yamcha said suddenly, "I forgot to tell him again!" He sighed and went back to eating, "Oh well, not like he'll lose sleep over it. I'll tell him when he's not so cranky."


	6. Chapter 6

Hey everyone!

Here we go again! I won't have internet for a while...

_Slowly dies at that thought_

So I thought it would be best if I update it now instead of later! If anything, I should have a stock on this story going on and maybe come to peace with the next chapter of Almost Full Moon. It has been fighting me recently and the words are just not flowing like I want them to. That is, if I don't have to worry about the two little munchkins that my sister is bringing with us. Lord have mercy on my soul.

Again, go read 'The Unexpected' by The nevermore. Really good and awesome plot twist! If anything, go tell him thanks for correcting my errors and being my beta for this chapter!

I really hope you'll enjoy.

* * *

**_The Setting Sun_**

Chapter 6

_Placid Reminder_

* * *

**Disclaimer: will never own DBZ**

* * *

Bulma cried out as she shot up in her bed. She was panting as she gripped the sheets in her lap as she tried to swallow her nausea. Sweat was rolling off her face as she tried to keep herself from crying, throwing up, or whatever else she felt like doing other than calming down.

She couldn't cry. If she cried, then she would go back on the progress she had made in the last few days.

She couldn't throw up. She was still stuck in bed and if she threw up, she would have to lay in it until morning.

She couldn't even call someone. Yamcha and her parents were sleeping on the other end of the compound. Vegeta was clearly out of the question since he would never come.

So she was stuck. She didn't want to do any of those things so she just had to ride out that last dream out. She clutched her sheets again as she tried so hard to forget. To forget that nightmare that she had just seen. Her mind playing cruel tricks on her.

A image flashed before her eyes and she couldn't keep herself from retching that time. After that, she began to cry.

She couldn't feel more terrible. She just wanted someone to care.

"Stop that," she heard him say before her sheets were pulled off and she was lifted up into the air easily.

"Ve..geta?" She sniffed as she tried to reign in her tears.

She could feel his grunt vibrate through his chest.

"What… what are you doing?" She asked as she rested her head against his shoulder.

"What does it look like I'm doing." Vegeta grunted, "I am not about to touch vomit filled bed sheets, nor am I going to listen to your blubbering."

He brought her into his room, setting her on the far side of his bed that was against the wall, grumbling as he found a pillow and propped her casted leg up before covering both of them up in his blankets and sheets. Bulma could tell he was trying to go back to sleep. His back was turned from her.

"Go back to sleep." He had commanded her from his spot on his bed.

"I… I can't…" She hiccupped as she wiped away the tears falling from her eyes.

"You need to," he insisted with the same gruff tone.

"I know I _need_ to," she hissed, "But I can't. Just because you're tell me to go to sleep doesn't make everything magically better."

"Close your eyes and slowly count backwards from… a hundred." He grunted. The way he had said the hundred sounded almost cautious.

"Why did you have to pause? Do you really not know how high a hundred is?"

"I am trying to sleep, Onna."

"But really?" Bulma couldn't help but wonder why he even had to think about it.

"Do you want to be put back in your vomit covered bed?" Vegeta asked, never once moving from his spot on his bed.

"No…" Bulma whispered as she bit her lip.

"Then _shut up_, close your eyes, and count from a high number backwards."

There was an uncomfortable lapse of time that was covered by silence.

"…You said 'high number' that time." Bulma pointed out.

"_Woman_," Vegeta's voice was very low and dangerous sounding, "Go. To. Sleep. This isn't time to talk, it is time to sleep."

"But… the nightmare will come back…" Bulma whispered.

Vegeta rolled over to look at her. She was trying not to look scared, but she didn't want to have that dream again. Her face was scrunched up as her lip quivered. She was trying really hard not to cry.

Vegeta sighed, "What will it take for you to go to _sleep_."

Bulma paused for a moment, thinking up her answer.

"A hug and a lullaby." That was what her mother use to do.

"Woman, I am not about to _hug_ you or even sing to you. Saiyans don't do that."

"Do you even know what a hug is?" Bulma questioned him.

"Go to sleep."

"Fine then, just a song?"

Vegeta grounded his teeth audible, "I don't sing."

"Hum then." Bulma shot back.

Vegeta suddenly became quiet. She bit her lip as she looked at the wall that the bed was against. Did she go too far with that one? That just gave away the fact that she had heard him hum before.

Bulma fidgeted for a minute before she spoke again, "Forget I said anything. I'm sorry I brought it up."

She didn't know why, but she felt her eyes tearing up again. But this time not from the images burned into her memory, but from a pain of rejection.

"Stop _crying_," Vegeta grumbled finally, surprising her as he took an arm and used it to gently pull her into his protective hold, "If there is one thing on this planet I hate the most, it is that blubbering of yours."

She was about to retort, but he had once again surprised her by singing. He was wrong. He _could_ sing. She loved the way the foreign words rolled off his tongue in that familiar lullaby she had heard him hum a thousand times before when he thought no one was paying attention. Her eyes grew heavy after a while of listening and soon she had nodded off.

* * *

Vegeta was cranky when he came down for Bulma's tray of food. Yamcha had tried to switch with Vegeta so that he wasn't bothered, but Bulma wasn't as responsive to eating as she was with Vegeta. So, Vegeta had to do her meals because she knew that if he was watching, he wasn't afraid of forcing it down her throat. She was still grossed out every time she remembered how he had done it too.

"The woman needs fresh linens," Vegeta grumbled as he grabbed the tray with one hand and began heading up.

"Does she need to be moved?" Yamcha asked, as he got up from his seat at the breakfast table.

"No. Just get her some new sheets."

"Alright," Yamcha sighed before remembering something, "The doctor is coming in today to check to see how she is healing up. Just a heads up."

"Hn."

With that he was upstairs again with her food and heading for his bedroom. She was still asleep, which was a different change of pace. For the last week that he had been there, she was always awake unless she was hyped up on drugs.

Vegeta was at a loss of what to do. To wake her up would be cruel since she was finally sleeping on her own, but he wasn't about to wait around for her to wake up so he could make sure she ate.

"Why am I even doing this?" He asked himself aloud as he set the tray on the bed next to her, "Why in the world am I even bothering?"

He still couldn't tell why. He didn't know why he felt so overprotective of her right now or why she pulled at his heart strings. Hell, anytime before this he would have laughed at the foolish idea of anyone stirring his dead heart. But there she was, doing it, stirring those emotions that were best left dead without even realizing it.

He looked over at her again and noticed the way she looked. She looked better than when he had gotten here. Didn't anybody know how to take care of somebody other than him? Hell, he knew he was bad, but what was worse was when the others just caved into whatever she wanted.

If she wasn't hungry, they didn't press her. If she didn't want to talk, they kept trying to make her or would talk in her stead. They made up excuses for her behavior. They tried to make everything vanish, like it had never happened.

But it had. She knew that, he knew that, her parents knew that, and even that weakling knew. So why go about it as if it didn't happen. Nothing would go back to normal.

He sighed again in frustration. If he still had his tail, it would be curling and uncurling at this very moment. He wasn't dealing well with this either, but he knew how to handle death. It was apart of his life until recently.

"Why," he heard Bulma's voice ask him.

It was thick and scratchy, so she had just woken up.

He turned his attention back onto the female that had been a main part of his days recently. He would bring her all her meals, make sure she ate, gave her the prescribed medicine, go eat himself, and head back to training, repeat until it was time for bed.

Last night she had woken him up with her startled cry and he had laid there thinking of what to do next. If she hadn't thrown up and began to cry, he highly doubted he would have even bothered to get her. Then she had the audacity to actually try to talk to him when she should have been sleeping, pressing the stupidest things.

He wasn't sure with what the names of numbers were in her language. With his mind still groggy from being woken, he had taken longer than he had wanted in answering.

Right now he wanted no conversation with her, but since she was actually initiating one, he would be a fool not to respond. He just needed to keep his temper.

"Why what? That is rather vague for you, don't you think?" Vegeta said, picking up the tray again and setting it on her lap, "Usually you're more specific."

"Why are you here? Why do you come up everyday and make sure I'm eating? Why do you even care?" She looked so lost at that moment.

"I am here because I live here. I make sure you eat because you won't otherwise." Vegeta said answering the first two easily, pausing for the last one.

"I don't know why I care. I just do, so get over it." He finally told her, before picking up her fork and setting it closer to her, "Eat your food."

"You didn't even want him to know you were his father," she continued, looking from her tray to him, "So why the hell do you care if he's dead now? Why?"

Vegeta wanted to groan at the sheer loudness of her voice let alone that she was choosing _now_ of all times to finally have a meltdown with him.

"Eat." Vegeta said again.

He was not answering this. He was not going to answer this. There was no way she could make him answer her questions.

"No."

"I said eat." Vegeta said again, this time with more force.

He grinded his teeth when she glared at him so angrily. He was trying not to lose his temper with her. What did she want him to say? She wasn't going to care or like it in the end.

"Screw you!" She screamed, taking her plate and throwing it at him.

"Woman!" Vegeta yelled, finally losing his temper as he dodged the plate that shattered on the opposite wall, "Do not mess with me. Not today, not tomorrow, not even the next day." His voice was tight as he tried to keep from lashing out at her. "I will not talk about this with you."

"Go away! Leave me alone! Just go back to your stupid GR and leave me alone!" Bulma screamed.

What set her off? He didn't know, but he wasn't going to take this. Nor was he going to do anything that she told him to do. So instead of leaving her alone like she wanted him to do, he did the opposite.

He picked her up, not caring much about jostling her wounds and stormed out of the room as Bulma screamed and hit him, throwing a tantrum like a five year old. He pushed past the weakling when he demanded to know what was going on and took her outside before taking to the air with her still in his arms.

"Put me down! Put me down!" She screamed as she thrashed the best she could in his arms.

He could tell it hurt her to do so, since she was only beginning to feel better. However, he was too angry to care at the moment. He needed her to calm down and he needed to get her away from the house. There were too many sad memories there for her and it was driving her mad and thus indirectly driving him mad through her.

Finally he found the place he was looking for. The place that he went to when he had been waiting for Kakarrott return from his death. He landed before dropping her on top the sandy beach.

"Sit there and think about how you are behaving for a while." He barked at her before flying off to the other side of the beach.

It was a small island that was uninhabited by filthy humans. He came here when he wanted to be alone and to think. He held no special memories here that were either good nor bad, so he was able to focus better here without memories dancing through his head.

He walked into the ocean until the water was up upon his chest, beating against it as the waves moved in and out. Only a few times did the waves tower him and even then, they never made him budge. He just stood there and took it, using the current to control his mood.

He needed to calm down. He had almost swung at her, hitting her with his waning control over his temper. He didn't like her tantrum that had come out of the blue. All he had said was that he didn't know why he cared, he just did. He had opened up to her and she bit him like a wounded animal.

Vegeta closed his eyes carefully monitoring her ki to make sure she wasn't doing something stupid. He would know if she was by the way her ki would waver.

He himself needed to think his own thoughts out. He really needed to know what drove him to take care of her. He had ruled out instincts last night. He wouldn't feel inclined to pick her up and bringing her into his room, _hug_ her, and _sing_ her to sleep on instincts alone.

Was it because of what she lost? No. He had lost more. He pitied her not.

He closed his eyes as a wave rolled over him and submerged him under the water for a short while.

What made him try to soothe her? Love?

He scoffed.

His heart just began to stir again with emotions more than just hatred and contempt. Love was out of his reach.

Not that he was reaching for it anyways.

It wasn't duty. It wasn't honor. It. Was. Not. _Love_.

Fondness?

Yes, he was fond of her. But not to this extreme.

Loyal?

Perhaps… She had show loyalty. But so had Nappa and Radditz. If he was loyal to her, he would have ended it like she had wanted.

Selfishness?

Why would he do things for her if he was being selfish?

Sorrow…

He shook his head.

No. He was not use to this one. He had failed to protect her, abandoning her when he was beginning to get frustrated. It had been against his better judgment and honor code of the Saiyan culture, but he still did it out of selfishness. He had failed to protect his spawn, her heir. He had even disclaimed the child.

He would never tell her, but he wanted to desperately take that back.

Another wave crashed over him. He didn't even close his eyes this time as he stared off. His eyes were burning, but he welcomed the sting.

He didn't know. That was what he had decided. He didn't know. But since he cared, he cared. Their bond was deeper than he thought. So he would do what he needed to do in order to make this right.

He stood there for an hour until he had decided that she was calm again. He flew back into the air, using his ki to dry himself and shaking the ocean salt off of his once the water evaporated.

He landed not too far away from her with a calm expression on his face. She was sitting in the sand, her good leg pulled up to her face as she rested her chin on it. She had her broken arm tucked close to her and her good arm in the sand, keeping her balanced.

He could smell the salt of her tears. She had been crying again, but from what he could see (and with the sand telling of her little fit with how it was indented and shaped about her) she had calmed down.

"Sorry," she whispered, keeping her eyes glued to the ocean.

Vegeta moved towards her and sat down, silently accepting her apology.

They had lost the child. It hurt her more than him, but he knew she needed to continue on.

"Is this your first death?" Vegeta finally asked, keeping his eyes on the scenery before him.

"That someone would never come back from, yes." Bulma said quietly, "We've always brought people back from the dead. I did cry when they died, but I always had assurance that they would come back."

"So you have never felt this sort of loss?"

"I felt hopelessness when Piccolo was killed." Bulma said, "Cause that meant the Dragon Balls disappeared. But then we learned of the Nameks."

"And you no longer grieved." Vegeta finished for her.

"Cruel, I know," Bulma said with a shrug, "But sometimes I just don't get it. Why cry for someone who you'll see again? My friends come and go and each time there is no sad goodbye. We see each other and pick up right were we left off."

Vegeta chuckled, "I don't get you, Onna. You just said the very thing I was going to tell you about the boy."

"His name is Trunks," Bulma said sternly before softening her voice, registering what had been said. "What do you mean?"

"Vegeta-sei was not without its own deity, woman," Vegeta said with a huff, "She was more of a legend to many, but she existed. She was the first legendary and because of that, she was able to convince the Kais to create a planet for the Saiyans for when they died."

"The Garden of Eden," Bulma supplied.

"Yes," Vegeta said with a surprised tone, looking over to Bulma, "How did you know that woman?"

"The lady who took Trunks told me so," She whispered, "She told me that Trunks had given me his life ki and would be unable to be brought back by even my 'wish dragon'. I had begged her to let me in as well, but she said no."

Vegeta stared at her, swallowing a lump that had accumulated in his throat, "What did she look like."

"Pretty." Bulma whispered, "She looked stern and hard until she saw Trunks, then she looked like a goddess. She had the prettiest smile and gentlest eyes when looking at him. She was small, but had long straight hair going down to her ankles. It was just as black as yours, and she had black eyes. She actually said something about taking care of Trunks till…till…"

"Till you came to be with him," Vegeta finished, "Because you will be allowed to be there one day, if she deemed so."

"So I… guess…" She took a deep breath as she pushed back her last tears, "I will see Trunks again."

"And you can pick up right were you left off," Vegeta quoted her.

Bulma looked at him, smiling –her first smile since it happened- her thanks before she looked back at the ocean with a calmed look. He too looked at the waves coming and going.

"So… was she your deity?" Bulma finally asked.

"No." Vegeta shook his head, "The deity's name is Evangeline Vegiit. The woman you saw… she was probably Ze-Azel Vegiit."

"Vegiit? So they are related?"

"Of course." Vegeta snorted, "The whole Royal line is related to Evangeline Vegiit."

"So… does that mean you have a full name like them too? Are you Vegeta Vegiit?" Bulma asked, watching him as he smirked.

"No, just Vegeta, like my father before me and his father before him. Vegiit is for the females of the Royal line."

"So… she was your cousin?"

Vegeta hesitated. It had sounded like his mother. She was the only Saiyan known to be stern one minute and instantly melt the next when seeing a child. It had to be her. No one but his mother would actually be crazy enough not to shorten the length of her hair if only by a few inches.

"My mother."

It suddenly got really quiet again. He glanced her way and realized she was just staring at him with surprised, calculating eyes.

"What?" He snapped, furrowing his brows at her.

"I can see it." She told him, "I bet you have her smile too."

"Nonsense. I am the spitting image of my father."

Minus a few feet. His mother's doing, but he didn't blame her for his father having weak genetics that his mother's genes could easily override.

"Right," Bulma said, trying to keep the smirk off her face as she looked away.

"Woman." Vegeta warned her.

"You know, I saw Trunks before your mother took him." She said after a while before stifling a laugh.

"What's so funny," Vegeta barked, but he was truly glad she could laugh again.

"He had lavender hair and pretty blue eyes. Looked nothing like you."

Vegeta's mouth twitched as he glared at the sea.

Stupid father for passing on weak genetics over to him.

"I'm sorry," Bulma said with a smile, seeing him pouting had somehow lifted her spirits, "Don't get mad."

She slouched against him, watching the waves again. He usually didn't like people touching him, but right now, he welcomed the touch. Right now, he didn't want to be alone.

"So is this where you would fly off to during your first stay with us?" Bulma asked once more time had passed them by.

"What?" Vegeta asked startled by such a question.

Nobody knew this was his hideaway.

"My mom and I noticed that your outfit was lightly crested in white powder. You know, on those days we finally could convince you to take off the suit'n'armor. My mother discovered it was sea salt. By the way, you were a royal pain to persuade out of those stupid worn out things."

"They are a warrior's armor."

"You look nice in your clothes now." Bulma continued as if he hadn't interrupted her.

He blushed as he pulled his knees closer and used his arms to shield his face from her as he tried to hide his blush.

He had only been wearing these clothes because he wasn't heading to the GR just yet and he had figured out just wearing his training shorts just got him unwanted attention from the woman's dame. So he was wearing khaki pants, a belt, a navy sweater, and black boots.

"Shut up, Onna."

Bulma let out another light laugh, "Don't get all huffy with me, I really think you look nice."

"Well for being a delicate human whose recovering, I can't complain about your appearance much either."

"I'll take what I can get." Bulma allowed. "Vegeta?"

"What?" Vegeta snapped.

Did she _ever_ shut up?

"Thank you."

Darn it. Now he felt guilty. Stupid woman for stirring his dead heart.

_Ring Ring_

Bulma looked over at Vegeta with a puzzled look.

"You have a phone?"

"The water didn't kill that blasted thing?" Vegeta grumbled as he stood up and dug through his pocket.

"Since when do you have a phone?"

"Since your mother won't leave me alone about it!" Vegeta snapped, "How do you answer this infernal thing?"

Bulma rolled her eyes as she held up her hand, motioning him to hand it over. He huffed as he tossed it at her.

"Hello?"

_"Bulma?"_

"Oh, hey Yamcha!"

_"Where are you guys? You have a doctor's appointment in ten minutes! Did Vegeta forget?"_

Bulma paused, covering the speaker on the phone, "Vegeta, apparently I have a doctor's appointment? In ten minutes?"

Vegeta groaned, he had forgotten about that. "Yes. The weakling did mention something like that."

"Well then, get us home!" Bulma said in her old bossy tone.

"Don't tell me what to do, Onna!"

"Don't make it so I have to!"

Both glared at each other with great determination to win the battle of the will.

_"Bulma!"_ Yamcha called out on the other end of the phone.

"What?" Bulma yelled, still holding her glare on Vegeta.

_"Your appointment? Oh and while I'm at it, tell Vegeta to stop ignoring me! I've been trying to tell him something for a week!"_

"Like he listens to me!" Bulma snapped.

Vegeta snagged the cell away from her, putting it up to his ear, "We'll be there in five minutes, don't act like a child about it."

With that he pressed the red button, hoping that it would terminate the call and shoved the small thing back in his pocket with a glare.

"Really, how did she trick you into having a phone?"

"It was either I have the blasted thing or she goes on strike and doesn't cook." Vegeta grumbled.

Of course, the only way to get to him was through that bottomless stomach of his.

He swooped down, picking her up gently this time and took to the sky.

"Speaking of food, you made me miss my breakfast, Onna," Vegeta snarled as he headed back, "You will be making up for that and throwing food about my room."

"You deserved it, Mr._ I-Just-Do-So-Drop-It_," Bulma shot back with her own snarl, "I mean what kind of answer is that?"

"Do you ever just shut up!"

"Not when you are being a jerk! By the way, Yamcha has been trying to talk to you about something! Why have you been-"

Vegeta groaned as he tuned her out. He flew faster to get away from her faster. His head was throbbing with a headache and he hadn't eaten and he hadn't even gone out to train today and no doubt he was going to have to talk to that weakling just so he didn't have to hear about it again. Oh, and knowing his luck, he would have to sit in on her appointment.

His calm mood from before was gone and he already felt like going back just to keep away from them, but it was too late now.

He had to take her back for her appointment. Her normal bossy, temperamental self had returned, if only for a bit, and she wanted to be there so she could get her diagnosis over with so maybe she could get the cast off her leg because she was tired of having to stay still.

Vegeta liked it only because it meant if he walked away, she couldn't follow after.

Why did he care again?

Oh, right.

He didn't know. He just _did._


	7. Chapter 7

Hey everyone!

Here you are. I know I haven't been updating lately, but I have been caught up in trying to find a job. Hopefully I can get one or I will starve next year or just get so sick off of the cafeteria food that I die... Sigh. So here is the next chapter and I am still working out the kinks in the next one. After that I might get my writing spark back.

Again, go read 'The Unexpected' by The nevermore. Really good and awesome plot twist! If anything, go tell him thanks for correcting my errors and being my beta for this chapter!

I really hope you'll enjoy.

* * *

**_The Setting Sun_**

Chapter 7

_Dead Heart Beating_

* * *

**Disclaimer: will never own DBZ**

* * *

Three years. Well, it was more like two years and four months now. It was hard for her to grasp that concept. She had thought by now that she would be getting ready to have a child rather than having to deal with the loss of a child.

The troubled waters were slowly coming back to their stilled, placid flow. There would always be ripples disturbing its peace, but Bulma was not a fool. She knew that nothing would go back to just how it had been before.

For one thing, she would never forget Trunks, but it was because of her loss of him that she had seen another side of the prince. He had calmed her heart; her heart that had been a raging storm of turmoil and distrust and even a longing to die. He had managed to make the large tidal waves of her soul become soft waves again.

How, she wasn't sure, but he had shown her a side of him she had never seen. He had even taken her to a place she knew was a sacred place of solitude and placid thinking to him.

If only she could figure out what had made this change. She was so confused to why he went from acting like she was the bane of his existence, which she was when had been pestering him for a heir, to taking care of her like she was someone special.

She wasn't delusional to think that he no longer saw her as the bane of his existence, but at some time or other, he had come to enjoy her being his nuisance. Or that's what she thought. The Adonis like prince was such a hard one to pin.

He had gotten her back to her appointment on time and had sulked about in the back as he watched the doctor with a glare. Bulma could tell that he did not like this man very much. She would have preferred a woman herself, but he had been the one to show up.

His hands were too grabby for her liking.

He removed a few of her bandages, checking and seeing that a few of her bones had healed nicely. All that really kept her down was her leg. It was slowly healing, but would take another two months before they even considered it healed. Finally, after lecturing at her for 'not resting' (Vegeta's harsh treatment of her earlier that day), he left. She was allowed to use crutches in two days.

Bulma was somewhat upset because December had crept it's way around the bend and all her relatives would soon be there to celebrate Christmas. They had all no doubt heard about the accident, which she was concerned about, and no doubt would try talking to her about what had happened like they were experts.

She had been able to get through another week or so and her train of thought had improved by bounds. She was with Yamcha a lot during this time period, because he started hanging out at her home again during the day time, but at night she realized that Vegeta switched off with him.

She would still sometimes have terrible nightmares and wake up with a start. She kept seeing all those faces. All those Saiyans that had flashed before her eyes before fading into nothing. She felt as though they screamed to be remembered, not forgotten with time, and would do so by reemerging themselves in her dreams. Her dreams felt like watching their memories. She usual wakened when they turned brutal or dark.

She wouldn't tell anyone, but sometimes she felt like she had seen how they died. Sometimes it would make her wake with a cry and other times it ended with her getting sick and sobbing.

Vegeta had gotten really good at getting there before she threw up on her sheets though. He seemed to be able to predict her really bad dreams by her ki and would save himself the trouble of cleaning up the mess or taking her back to his room by getting her to the bathroom in time to puke. Though, he never was very happy about it. He usually wore a more than usual angry scowl as he helped her, muttering something in his own language.

She could use the crutches now and finally had her catheter removed (thank Kami) but she wasn't usually fast enough to get to the bathroom in time to throw up. Vegeta would put her back in her bed and lie on one side of her bed for a while till she either fell asleep and or cried.

He then would awkwardly hold her like he had and sing his lullaby. Sometimes it was nice and other times he sang it bitterly. She knew it was because she was bothering him with all her neediness. She couldn't understand why he even did it. She didn't know and it bothered her.

He was always gone by morning. Yamcha had picked up her mealtimes. If she didn't eat, he went and got the grumpy Saiyan that was busy training. That was never fun, so she shut up and ate to avoid getting it shoved down her throat. Or regurgitated. She didn't care who you were, that was gross.

"Hey B," Yamcha called to her, breaking her of her thoughts.

"Yeah," She asked as she looked up from her work.

Since she was able to use her arm again, she had taken to trying to figure out something to do while the rest of her healed.

He smiled at her as he held out his two hands that were balled into fists.

"Pick a hand, any hand, but only one has the reward!" He said with a huge grin.

He was very proud of something he had done and Bulma could only wonder what he had done that made him so happy. She looked at both hands before picking his dominate hand. He tended to hide the little presents he use to give her in that hand, plus it looked like that one was holding something.

He opened it up and to her surprise there was a Senzu bean.

"I know I am a little early for Christmas, but I finally convinced Karin that you weren't going to jump out the nearest window after you got all healed up." Yamcha told her as he placed it in her hand.

She stared at it. She had never had one and mildly wondered what it tasted like. She knew she wouldn't need all of it so when Yamcha wasn't looking she would take it and hide the rest incase of emergency. Vegeta or Yamcha were bound to do something stupid sooner or later and would need one.

"Well, are you going to eat it?"

"Take off my cast first? So just incase, we don't hurt me any further after I am healed," Bulma finally said.

She was actually happy at the thought of no longer feeling terrible, taking her medicine, and being confined to her bed if she was not on her crutches. Now Vegeta wouldn't need to watch her retch into her toilet after bad dreams and wouldn't have to be put out by carrying her about like a little child.

Yamcha nodded, using his ki and carefully slicing only through the cast and not her limb. Soon it was cracked open enough that he gave a single tug and it cracked on the other side, letting her leg be free from its prison.

When Yamcha was busy concentrating on putting the cast on the floor, she took a bite of it, only taking about a third. She hid the rest in her hand, acting like she had taken all of it. Her leg was already almost totally healed, so it just needed a little more push. She could immediately feel the effects. Her body felt immediately better and nothing had a dull ache as it once had. She was a little nervous about standing up, but her fears dissolved once she put pressure on her leg. Nothing hurt.

She had broken it before, once upon a time when Goku had been playing a little too rough and tumble for her, and she remembered what it was like when they finally removed the cast.

"You know what I feel like doing?" She asked him with a sweet smile, "Taking a shower and finally getting all clean and clean clothes and make my hair look nice and just feeling pretty."

"Alright," Yamcha nodded with a smile, "I'll go give Vegeta a heads up so he doesn't kill me from lack of knowledge."

"Yeah, well that one was his fault," Bulma chuckled.

Vegeta had turned red in the face and looked near ready to have an aneurism or blow a gasket when he finally learned of what Yamcha had been trying to tell him for over a week.

_"Why didn't you mention this earlier you moron!"_ He had all but screamed.

_"I was trying to tell you, but you kept blowing me off!"_

_"See? I told you that you shouldn't blow people off,"_ Bulma had teased him once she was sitting on the couch, her doctor looking worriedly from her to the man that looked ready to blow a blood vessel in his head.

Vegeta had been so furious he went right back to his little island and didn't come back till he was calm and starving around the middle of the night.

"Yeah, well I don't want this one to be my fault." Yamcha said as he got up, "I'm glad you are feeling more like yourself."

He quickly kissed her forehead and left the room with the broken cast in hand. She was quiet for a while as she stared at the door. She was alone and now could move about. She felt relief about that. She quickly got up and hid the rest of the Senzu bean and headed for her shower.

She turned the water on full blast and adjusted the temperature until it was her favorite temperature. Soon she was washing herself and becoming as clean as she usually kept herself. She began to shave her legs when she paused.

No one was around right now. This was one of her sweet dreams coming true. No one would be there in time if she quickly slit a main artery and ended it. Her bad dreams would go away and she could be with Trunks again. She wouldn't have to sit around and suffer her loss of that special baby boy she never got to know. She wouldn't have to worry about the board telling her anything about trying to produce another heir or have to face her relatives at Christmas.

She paused as she looked at her razor, thinking as she entertained the idea. She could do that, but she also weighed the cons.

She remembered what Vegeta had told her. She would be wasting a gift from her child. She affected those around her and they would be sad if she died. She didn't know why, but the dreams also kept her from ending it. They were terrible and often made her want to stop eating or something, but they were a cry of a people. They seemed to be asking for someone not to forget them.

She continued shaving her legs and once she was done, set the razor down, not attempting to touch it again.

She was Bulma Briefs. She would think her way around her problems and use her superior ability to compose mastermind plans to think of ways around things like her relatives and the board. Those were easy enough, she realized, she was just being too dramatic.

She would see her baby one day and she would be patient and wait for her proper time to leave the Earth. No unexpected ends for her. She would just go like she was suppose to, even if it meant she was old and gray.

She had barely finished her shower and wrapping a towel around her when she heard someone come rampaging through her bedroom door.

She quirked an eyebrow as she went to her bathroom door, opening it and looking straight at whoever had done so with a questioning look.

It was Vegeta and he did not seem pleased.

"Can I help you with something or are you just having a tantrum?" Bulma asked as she walked out of her bathroom and towards her dressers.

Vegeta had quickly moved towards her and grabbed her wrists and inspected them before inspecting her, his nose flaring a bit as he took in the scent of the room.

Bulma figured out what he was doing. Obviously, he wasn't as stupid or simpleminded as Yamcha if he figured out what she could have done in the bathroom before anyone would have realized.

"I entertained the idea for a bit." She confessed, "But, I decided the cons weighed too heavy in my heart. I can fix most of my problems and can be patient for the rest I suppose."

Vegeta released her with a heavy, agitated sigh, "Stupid idiot gave you the time you needed too."

"Well, Mr. Super Saiyan, if I had decided to do so, the ki barrier would be up and my ki slowly decreasing, no?" Bulma asked, turning her attention back onto her task of finding clothes.

* * *

He had been in the middle of training when he noticed that her ki had moved to the bathroom. He paused. Suddenly one of the droids tried to attack him from behind. He moved quick enough that it had only manages to gash his tail stub. He gritted his teeth, making no sound of pain, and quickly shooting down a droid before it attacked again. He could feel the wound clotting already.

His mind when back to the woman. He didn't know how she had gotten there, but he still was always anxious whenever she went hobbling around on those stupid metal sticks. Her ki hadn't seemed as slow as he knew it should have been if she was on those metal sticks and that was what caused him to pause.

It wasn't even a couple minutes later that the weakling came knocking at his door, forcing him to turn off his GR and open the door to listen to whatever he had to say.

Oh, he was still very angry at the scarred one for not _telling_ him that he had ascended to Super Saiyan for over a week or so. He was still trying to recreate the event that had triggered it. But Vegeta had never took into consideration that he had not paused to listen, but he had been better about listening to what the weakling had to say nowadays.

"Hey, Vegeta," He had said, not very thrilled to have to talk to him- the feeling was reciprocated and multiplied by ten.

"What?" Vegeta snapped, still taking the woman's ki into consideration.

"I came down to inform you that I gave Bulma a Senzu bean and she is now healed. So, her cast is off and she's currently taking a shower."

Vegeta paused for a moment. Staring at the human in disbelief. He could still remember the contents of her shower stock. She had a razor in there and that was a blade that if she ever decided to, she could take her life with and _he_ had left her in her room, in her _bathroom_, with one of those things.

He felt his head throb with his usual headache that he received from this man. He pitched the bridge of his nose and fought the twitch of agitation that made him want to kill this pathetic weakling if only to end his misery of the man.

"Did it ever cross your mind that she might not be mentally stable enough to be _left_ alone, fully healed with a razor in her bathroom where she could just… end it all?" Vegeta grounded out.

He has spent two weeks taking care of her. Nights getting up and monitoring her ki and making sure she didn't throw up in her bed and he had _hugged_ her and _sang_ to her over and over, time and time again when her dreams left her in a huge mess. Weeks of investment in her that she could throw away in a couple minutes' time. Humans were so frail and weak.

By the expression on the weakling's face, no, he had not.

"You, go do something useful and stay out of my face. Next time you want to surprise her with something _tell_ me first." Vegeta snarled as he quickly stormed his way up to her room.

She had been up there alone for a while. The moment he got there, she had turned up at her bathroom door, acting as cocky as she use to, but he was still not sure she hadn't tried to hurt herself.

He had grabbed her wrists when she had moved to her dresser and checked both before sniffing the air for blood. He relaxed ever so slightly when he couldn't sense any.

She seemed to have read his mind because she answered his unasked questions.

"I entertained the idea for a bit." She told him in a straight tone, staying entirely too calm to be a normal human, "But, I decided the cons weighed too heavy in my heart. I can fix most of my problems and can be patient for the rest I suppose."

Vegeta released her with a heavy, agitated sigh, "Stupid idiot gave you the time you needed too."

He really wanted to go pound that idiot's face in for doing this to him. It was bad enough about the whole Super Saiyan thing, but almost letting the very thing he had put so much effort into keeping alive was literally pushing him over the edge of the cliff. Good thing he could fly.

"Well, Mr. Super Saiyan, if I had decided to do so, the ki barrier would be up and my ki slowly decreasing, no?" Bulma asked, turning her attention back onto her task of finding clothes.

Vegeta hated and liked the way she would call him Mr. Super Saiyan. It was her way of showing him respect for accomplishing his task and to mock him with reminding him that he hadn't quite yet mastered it. He stood back a little as he watched her rummage through the drawers for something to wear.

She was right in her assessment though.

"Or maybe that would push you over the edge and back into being a Super Saiyan." She said with a cruel smirk on her lips.

He couldn't see her face, but he could hear the smirk in her voice. He let out a low growl at the thought.

"Don't be a fool." He didn't like her talking about her life as something that could be so easily thrown away.

He had killed millions and death was probably his main scent to those with noses strong enough to smell it. He had killed woman and children and men alike, leaving none so none would have to suffer. But Bulma wasn't going to suffer living in a whore house if she lived, she didn't have to suffer being enlisted into Frieza's army if she survived, or being used as a target practice or some sick game of who can kill the prisoner the slowest. Her life wasn't promised to great suffering, so she had no right to act like he would waste it like his previous masters would have to get ahead in the world.

He growled again. He was getting angrier the more he thought about it.

She sighed, pausing in her search as she casted him an apologetic look over her shoulder.

"I didn't mean that Vegeta. I know you aren't a cruel killer."

Was she reading his mind? He didn't think that humans had that ability.

"I'm not reading your mind, I just know what your expressions mean, the little you have." She told him with a wiry smirk, "Now get out of here so I can change, neh?"

"And if I refuse?" Vegeta growled.

Bulma eyed him for a moment before smirking and letting her towel drop. He was out of there faster than she could blink, his cheeks dusted pink as he muttered curses as he walked back towards his GR. He could hear her laughing at his actions.

So what? Just because he had laid with her didn't mean he was really looking. He had tried to keep it as professional as possible. His face burned a bit more at that thought. Okay, he was a little bit of a prude, but could you blame him? Her dame was always out to get him!

He could see the weakling still standing where he had left him. He wanted to groan.

"She's fine, go back to whatever you were doing and maybe you should try to see if that _brain_ of yours can actually be of use."

"At least I have more faith in her," the scarred one snapped as he narrowed his eyes, "She needs to be given some amount of faith if she is ever to really get back to the way things were beforehand, Vegeta."

"No, that is where you are wrong." Vegeta growled, turning to face the man, "Death is not something that _just_ happens and after a while you go back to the way things were. Nothing will _ever_ be the same. It might look similar, but there will always be changes. Someone who has not experienced fighting for life in a battle field cannot see what effects death brings with it."

"I fought you and your giant buddy, didn't I?"

"No, you died. You fought the little ugly creatures I used as punching bags as a child and died. That wasn't even ten minutes into the fight. You know nothing of struggling to live."

"But I know what is means to die!"

"So do I!" Vegeta barked before pushing the taller man out of his way, "But unlike you, I didn't think I was going to be brought back."

Why was he even talking to the idiot? He slammed the GR door and turned the machine back on, turning it up high than before. He just wanted to concentrate on becoming a Super Saiyan again. The weakling might be an idiot, but he could manage to watch Bulma without usually messing up too much.

Their agreement was Vegeta did nights and he did days. The woman would be monitored at all times until Vegeta was sure of her mental state. Though, he didn't know when he could be sure of her mental state, but for now this worked. As long as the weakling was about, he would use him so he could train in the daytime without hindrance.

He had a half a mind to wonder why he cared again, but he had gone over it so many times just to find himself at the same conclusion.

He didn't know.

So even though it sometimes annoyed the hell out of him, he would keep watching the woman and make sure she was recovering.

* * *

Bulma woke again with a start. She panted heavily as she quickly removed herself from her bed and began to pace. That had been the most vivid one to date and she didn't feel like sleeping. That one had upset her the most.

Whoever it had been… he looked like Vegeta. He had been ready to attack some reptilian creature and with a simple flick of that monster's finger- it ended. He had tried so hard to protect his people, and he had failed with just a flick of a finger.

She quickly left her room and headed out to the kitchen. She wasn't one for cooking, hell, her mother teased her for her bad cooking skills, but she needed to do something. She wasn't allowed in the lab just yet, but she needed something to do to pass the time.

Her mind was still rushing with her vivid dream and she realized only after fifteen minutes that she had no clue what she was making. The batter was still being made, but her fingers didn't linger as she kept putting ingredients in. She soon drowned herself in what she was doing, her mind clearing and all she thought about was what was next on her list of things she needed to grab or stir.

She poured the- whatever it was- into a pan and put in her already preset oven. She pulled away, turning back to her dirty dishes and began to wash them without a second thought. She didn't even realize that Vegeta was there until he cleared his throat. Her head whipped around to look at him, jumping slightly but that was it.

"What are you doing, Onna?"

She just shrugged, going back to cleaning up, "Making something."

"And what did you make?" He moved to a chair in the kitchen and sat down, watching her all the while.

She shrugged again, "Not sure."

"Why aren't you asleep?"

"Bad dream." Bulma sighed, scrubbing her bowl with a little too much effort.

"You've been having a lot of those." He wasn't asking, he was noting it aloud.

"Yes," she confirmed, biting her bottom lip as she tried not to think back on it, "And each time more vivid."

"Are they about-"

"No, they are not about Trunks. They about other people. People I have never seen more than once in a passing moment, but will never forget." She tapped her head, "Photographic memory. Even my dreams… I remember them all."

Vegeta nodded, sighing as he leaned back further into his chair, "Do you have a way of getting them out of your system?"

"No," Bulma whispered.

"Perhaps you should take up drawing or something other than cooking," Vegeta said, "Because we all already know that you can't cook to save your life."

Bulma stared at him before smiling and laughing, "True. Give me a Federal computer to hack, give me a dead language to learn, give me the world to dominate, give me the hardest algorithm in the universe; I can do any of those, but just don't let me cook or I will either kill you or give you the worse heartburn and stomach ache combo you've had depending on the species you are."

Vegeta gave her a smirk before casting a glance at the oven. He lifted his nose into the air and gave her a wondering look.

"What are you cooking?"

"I… I really don't know. I kinda zoned out." Bulma confessed as she looked over at the oven, "Does it smell bad?"

"No. Familiar." Vegeta noted as he got up and headed to the oven, still scenting the air.

He opened the oven, quickly grabbing the pot holder on top of the oven and snagging the glass pan she had poured it into. He sniffed it again, pulling it out and quickly flicking the oven off.

"It smells similar, almost the same," Vegeta whispered before lapping at the still gooey half cooked dish.

Bulma watched as he pulled away. His eyes clouded over for a minute as he stood up straight. He stared at the dish. Once more he inhaled the scent before tossing the unfinished dish into the sink, luckily not breaking the pan.

"Vegeta," Bulma questioned as she watched his face pull into its guarded expression, "Was it bad?"

"Yes. Terrible," Vegeta said gruffly, grabbing her waist and directing her upstairs, "Don't cook unless you're trying to kill people, Onna."

Bulma looked at him with a confused glance. Something had set him off, but she didn't know if it was the taste of the dish or something else. His expression looked guarded from her but his onyx eyes looked pained. He kept a hand on her waist as he led her upstairs, pulling away like he was burned only after pushing her into her room.

"Go back to sleep Onna." He barked, leaving before she could say anything.

Bulma just stood were she had caught herself and watched him retreat back into his area. She was worried. Had she caused that?

Vegeta on the other hand had gone back into his room, slamming the door and walking right back to his bed before collapsing on it with a thump. He laid on his stomach, grabbing his pillow and pulling it to his face as he tried to keep himself together.

That couldn't have been coincidence. There was no way she could have accidentally made that dish. He had been young, but even he knew what it was. It was so many things to him, but the most important thing was that it had been his mother's favorite _Saiya-jin_ desert. His father knew the recipe by heart, if only because he used it so often to soften the temper of his mate, especially when he had angered her.

But…

Why did the woman know anything about the dish?

Let alone cook it just right with Earth ingredients that it tasted almost the same?

How could she even know?

He struggled with those questions as he pushed his face further into his pillow to keep himself from voicing it or going to go ask her.

That part of his heart had scabbed over and died so long ago, but now that he had tasted that desert, it was bleeding all over again. He struggled with all the memories he had of his family in brighter times, cursing the woman once again for making his dead heart more and more alive.


	8. Chapter 8

Hey everyone!

Here's the next update! Not much to say, but I'll leave my usual right below because The nevermore is awesome and he did beta this and fixed all my little mistakes. Go read and review his. Trust me, you will not be disappointed!

By the way, I really want to know how you guys are liking this story. Do you have a certain direction you want me to take or a idea that I could use for... 'bonding' time with Bulma and Vegeta? Just tell me and I will try to work it into the chapter I am currently working on. Criticism is welcome, flames are not. There is a difference and I have no doubt everyone knows the difference.

Again, go read 'The Unexpected' by The nevermore. Really good and awesome plot twist! If anything, go tell him thanks for correcting my errors and being my beta for this chapter!

I really hope you'll enjoy.

* * *

**_The Setting Sun_**

Chapter 8

_A Cold Winter Morning_

* * *

**Disclaimer: will never own DBZ**

* * *

The morning was unusually cold. It was as if the fall had finally vanished and overnight winter had set in, but with more bite than it had other years. Bulma had been up all night, watching the weather change through her large glass doors that opened up onto her balcony. It had been fascinating when she had realized it had begun to snow. The frozen rain turning into soft flakes of ice that fell from heaven.

She had not been able to sleep the rest of the night, so she had taken the liberty of finding an unused sketch pad. She went through thousands of sketch pads because of her job designing machinery. She was no rookie when it came to using a pencil, eraser, and other mediums. She had considered taking up art instead of mechanics and such, but the life of a genius inventor called louder than the life of an artist.

Some people were always angry at her because she was so many things, so many talents. She really hated it when they said her talents were limitless, because they were. She couldn't cook, she couldn't do performing arts, she hated things like psychology and sociology because it never made sense to her why people acted in such ways. Art, science, computer science, engineering, design, languages, mathematics, physics, and even some fields of medicine and biology interested her. Those were her talents and she didn't go far from them, people just didn't realize that and never saw her fail at things- because she would not do things she knew she would fail at.

She sat there sketching one of the thousand images she had seen in her head. She used chalk pastels to color the picture, making the sky a deep red and the columns of the hall that opened up to show the sky an ivory color. A woman in the shadows of the large columns resting her back against one as she stared out into the vast sky before her.

Bulma didn't understand what she had drawn, but the picture had put her at ease, more so than just waiting for the images to fade into the back of her head. That could take years, and even then, the slightest thought of it would pull it right back up to the front of her mind like it had never been filed away. Sometimes photographic memory sucked.

Speaking of something pulling to the front of her mind, she wondered how Vegeta was. He had literally put her back in her room and had gone back to his. Usual**ly**, he would make sure she went back to sleep, but she figured since she was all healed up, he didn't think that her resting was as important anymore.

Her brows knitted together. That was out of character for Vegeta. If he made something a habit, he didn't break habit until he had slowly weaned himself from it or something drastic forced him to change his habits.

Her being healed hardly counted as drastic. She knew he should have at least pushed her into her bed, put her sheets on top of her before barking out a threat for her to go back to sleep or else, than at least watch her until she did. If anything that would have been the first step to him breaking his habit.

Bulma stared at the light peaking over the horizon ever so slightly, telling of first daylight. He would be getting up soon, if not already up. She glanced down at the white covered lawn near the GR. There was no sign of it being turned on nor of anybody having disturbed the blanket of snow to get into the GR.

She stood up, closing her sketch pad, and headed out her door to go find the Saiyan. She listened for the familiar rustle of him getting ready for the day, but there was nothing but silence. That puzzled her since he was a person that had to be on a schedule. He hated not being on his schedule and was always put into a bitter mood when he was derailed from it.

She stopped at his door, slowly opening it to see if he was getting up and ready. He had to by now because it was his usual time for getting up.

She blinked a few times when she still saw his figure lying in his bed. His head was buried under one of his many pillows he had collected over the few months he lived there. If she had to guess, she would guess that he had at least three body pillows, twelve down pillows, and four big pillows. Not all of them were on the bed, but she knew he switched them out a lot when her mother cleaned a couple of them. He always had at least seven pillows on his bed at once. She had never understood his obsession with them, but she knew he liked to bury himself in them at times.

She stared at him for a moment longer before entering further into his room. She half expected him to snap at her or something, but no. He laid there unmoving as she crept closer.

Finally she was next to his bed and really beginning to worry.

"Vegeta?" She called to him, stooping her height to the height of his bed, "Vegeta?"

She heard him grumble something, but it was inaudible.

"Are you alright, 'Geta?" Bulma asked, touching his forearm before snapping her hand back in shock.

Saiyans were naturally furnaces. She knew that much by spending so much time with them. With Goku as a child, hugging him, teasing him, and well, hitting him for being stupid; and with Vegeta when they had been… breeding, when he had given her awkward hugs, touched her, or when she had held him when he had hurt himself badly. He was nothing less than a blazing furnace on a cold winter's night.

But right now he was just mildly warm, his body was shivering as he laid there unmoving other than the small involuntary shaking that his body was doing.

"Vegeta, you're warm," She said in a worried tone.

Never had she experienced a Saiyan feeling just warm. It had to be like them being ice cold. He didn't move, he just shivered before grunting again from under his pillow.

Bulma didn't waste time running out of the room, opening the nearest cupboard drawer, pulling out as many blankets as she possible could before quickly coming back into Vegeta's room. Her mind was spinning around what to do next, but other than smothering him in blankets, she couldn't figure out what to do. She had never, ever, ever, experienced something like this where Vegeta had ever felt so cold.

Was this normal? Was this something that happened to Saiyans? She didn't know but it scared her. She managed to tug the pillow off of Vegeta's head and looked at him. He was awake, but still shivering. He seemed utterly confused, but he didn't speak a word.

"Vegeta," Bulma tried again, trying to see if he wouldn't give her anything to ease her, "Are you alright? Are you sick?"

She paused, watching him, but he didn't say anything, he just stared a moment before closing his eyes.

"That's not an answer, 'Geta," Bulma hissed as she patted his face softly.

He growled at her, his eyes lifting heavily, but he did nothing else. In fact, Bulma realized his jaw was incredible loose. She could easily move it about that was how slack it felt. Vegeta was never this loose.

He couldn't talk, she realized. Bulma looked at him worriedly, tears on the verge of escaping as her chest clenched. She realized there was probably only one person who might have an inkling of knowledge to what was going on and that was the wife of a Saiyan.

"I'm sorry Vegeta, I need to call Chichi," Bulma said as she lifted his limp head and put his pillow under his head like it was suppose to be.

She heard him growl dangerously at that. His eyes were glaring at her, daring her to even think about callingthat woman, but she had no choice.

"I don't know what's wrong, she's the only one who might." Bulma scolded him before leaving the room quickly to fetch her cell.

She came right back, too scared to leave him like this. She had already called, listening to the phone ring as she leaned on his doorway and tried to pull herself together.

"Hello?" Someone asked sleepily.

It was Chichi.

"Chichi?" Bulma asked, trying hard to remain calm, "Chichi its me, Bulma."

"Bulma?" the woman groaned, "It is hardly even morning, why are you calling so early?"

"I know it is early, but I have somewhat of an emergency," Bulma let out a shaky, nervous laugh, "Actually I really don't know if it is, but I… I just don't know what's going on."

"What's the matter?" Chichi's voice no longer sounded half-asleep, it sounded fully aware.

"It..it's Vegeta."

"Has he hurt you? I knew that him staying there was a bad-"

"NO. No. Chichi, I am fine… It's Vegeta. Something's wrong with him."

Chichi stayed quiet for a moment before talking again. "What do you want me to do about it?"

Bulma's mouth dropped for a second, pulling away from the door frame and away from Vegeta's room. She didn't want him to hear anything that Chichi might say.

"I need you to tell me what might be the problem." Bulma said, her voice getting low.

"Yes, I figured that," she could sense Chichi rolling her eyes at her, but it seemed as though Chichi could sense Bulma's temper flaring. "It's early, Bulma. I am not the most cheery this time in the day. What I meant it what do you need to know."

"He's… he's lying on his bed not moving. It looks like he can't move but-"

"He's totally loose and slack." Chichi finished for her, "Did the weather suddenly drop?"

"Yes, it just snowed." Bulma sniffled. She was not about to cry. She was not about to cry. She was not about to cry. "So… he's okay?"

"Mmhmm," Chichi confirmed, "Look, I can either lecture you on what to do or I can come over and show you what to do so if this happens again you don't have to worry about it."

"What about Goku. Is he-"

"We had a sudden weather drop last month, Goku's up and going. In fact, I have the next two weeks by myself. I would rather not be alone, so if you give me a few hours, I will be there to show you what to do."

"Okay…" Bulma nodded even though she knew Chichi couldn't see it, "I don't know how happy Vegeta's going to be wi-"

"He can't do anything about this. No doubt he would rather be comfortable than miserable while his body is adjusting. I didn't catch this once with Goku and it took me two, maybe three weeks to get him out of that coma like state." Chichi lectured.

Three weeks! Bulma fretted. I can't let that happen!

"Is… is there anything I can do until you get there?"

"Prepare a lot of blankets and maybe find a heater to put in his room. I will prepare the rest, don't worry about it B. I will take care of it." Chichi said.

Bulma could hear rustling in the background, Chichi must have still been in bed.

"Thank you Chi… I know you don't like him but-"

"I will save my judgment till later, B." Chichi sighed, "Gohan did tell me if it wasn't for Vegeta, he would have died. So, though he might be a jerk, I will help if only for you. I will be there as soon as I can, don't panic."

"Thanks Cheech," Bulma said again, "See you when you get here."

"Till then," Chichi mumbled sleepily before hanging up.

Bulma went back into Vegeta's room, once again squatting down to look at Vegeta eye to eye. He would need an update so that he would act as hostile.

"I called Chichi and she's heading over," Bulma told him, noting the angry flare to his eyes, "I don't know what to do, but she does, Vegeta. If you don't get the proper help, you could go into a coma."

His eyes widened at that. He did not like that in the least.

"So Chichi is going to stay for a while and show me what to do. She says this happens to Goku every time the weather suddenly changes. She will be here as soon as possible and will explain it further then."

He let out a sigh, closing his eyes for a time before opening them and looking at her with the 'you still here' glance.

"Yes, I am still here." Bulma said with a little smile, "I am going to go get what Chichi told me to get and you stay put. Things will get better when Chichi gets here."

If only he could nod to tell her he heard her. He managed out a grunt, but that was all as he closed his eyes. He looked tired.

Bulma stood up and began to run about getting what had been asked of her ready.

* * *

Chichi stifled a yawn as she walked up to the doors of Capsule Corps. It was about 8 in the morning now and any regular person was now just getting up. It was Saturday and today of all days was not a day to be commuting three hours to get somewhere. But Bulma was clueless to this issue and would need help.

It just surprised her to see Yamcha getting out of a car as well.

"Chichi?" He asked with a very confused look, "Wha-what are you doing here?"

Did Bulma not tell him? It took her a minute to figure out why he didn't have a clue to what was going on. She didn't have to have her husband's amazing sense of smell to catch wind of the alcohol on his person.

"Does Bulma know you were at a party all night?" Chichi asked with a sharp tone and a mean glare.

"Um… she really doesn't care." Yamcha said, blinking in surprise at her harsh words, "She actually keeps pressing me to see if I found a girl. I think she's getting bored of just Vegeta and me."

That was not something that Chichi was expecting. Last thing she had heard, Yamcha and Bulma were an item.

"Why is she asking you to find a girl? Did you two break up?"

Understanding filled Yamcha's eyes as he laughed lightly, "We haven't been together for months. No, we weren't good for each other. I am only living here temporarily until-"

Chichi didn't miss the way he cut himself off, quickly covering it by strolling up to the door and putting his key in the lock, "Hey, come on in. If you are here this ungodly hour of the morning, then B is no doubt expecting you, huh?"

Chichi figured she could have kept pressing him, but let it go for the moment, "Yeah. She sounded freaked out when she called me. I probably should make her wait around much more, though I am not too thrilled about helping Vegeta."

Yamcha blinked a couple times, still holding the door partially open as he stared at her.

"What's wrong now?" Innocent inquiry in his voice.

Chichi forgot; she tried not to hit her head in for such stupidity. She expected something like that from her husband, not her.

"It's snowing."

"Yeah. I gathered that when I left the bar."

"The climate had a sudden drop," Chichi told him, motioning for him to open the door as she spoke, "I noticed that Goku's body went into shock by it, causing him to basically be dead weight, not able to do much other than keep his eyes open and make grunts and growls and such. If I took special measures, he was able to move again freely after a few days. Apparently it is a Saiyan thing."

"So… Vegeta is… unable to move?" Yamcha asked, his features getting pale.

"Currently. Is that a problem for you?" Chichi asked, questioning his sudden worry.

"Um… a little…" Yamcha said barely able to get the words out before Bulma called down from the banister of the second floor.

"Chichi! Thank Kami you are here! Did you get what you needed to get? Can you please help Vegeta now?"

She looked worried, no she looked like she was on the verge of freaking out and crying. To Chichi, it was Bulma just being over-nurturing to someone, but to Yamcha, who knew the relationship and the events of late, it was her being scared. Vegeta was her sanity at this point of time. Without him, all progress goes out the window… and probably Bulma depending on how desperate she got.

"Yes, calm down," Chichi sighed, "there is no use in getting over excited about these things."

"Hey B," Yamcha called up to her, "Chichi is right, you need to calm down. She's here now and everything is going to be alright."

Bulma bit her lip and nodded, her eyes red from a sleepless night. Chichi wondered if she had even slept at all. And if she hadn't, was this because of Vegeta's sudden paralysis or something else?

"I am going to go take a shower and maybe go sleep. If you need me, you know where I am. I will tell your parents what is going on. Just help Chichi."

Chichi really wanted to know why Yamcha was treating Bulma- the Bulma Briefs- like she was a five year old that was totally and utterly lost. She was shocked when Bulma only nodded and thanked him.

Something was wrong. Something was not right and it wasn't entirely about Vegeta.

"Come on. I need help sorting through the capsules I brought," Chichi said with a tired sigh, "Let's go get Vegeta situated and on the road to recovery. The last thing we need is him killing anyone and bothering my husband because he's angry he lost a few weeks of training because he went into a coma."

Chichi met up with Bulma on the second floor and allowed her to lead her to Vegeta's room. She had left a note for Goku just in case, but she highly doubted he would notice. She raised an eyebrow at the mass amounts of pillows the man had, but couldn't condemn him for it since Goku was known to hoard things that were soft as well. She just wouldn't let him get away with masses amounts of pillows through. She knew Bulma hadn't put them there because they were under the masses amounts of blankets that were drowning the man.

The moment she entered the room, she heard a deep animalistic growl.

"Vegeta," Bulma scolded him, "Be nice or she might leave."

His growls got louder.

"Do you want to be in a coma because you scared off the only person who knows what to do?" Bulma snapped.

Chichi was amazed that the growling stopped. Bulma had her ways with the Saiyan and neither of them realized it. She shook her head, clearing it of such thoughts, only thinking of what to do.

"Alright. We will start out by sorting what I have and go from there. First step is warming him up."

And with that, Chichi was in charge.

* * *

Vegeta could not believe his terrible luck. He woke up that morning freezing and he didn't know why. He had finally gone to sleep after the incident with the woman just to wake up totally paralyzed! On top of that, his tail stub where he had gotten that gash on was throbbing in pain unhappily. As his rotten luck would have it, his body was going into a state of shock because of the weather.

Vegeta-sei had a very hot climate. Because of this, his people were able to withstand insane amounts of heat. One thing that they couldn't take were sudden weather drops. It would send their body into shock, and from what he just learned for the clown's mate, he would enter a state of hibernation. (And he had seen it before in his childhood too. It had saved his people when they had been marooned on a planet with either no food, no water, or too cold a climate.)

Not only did he have to put up with Bulma, who turned from worried to fretting nervously, but also with Kakarrott's mate. She had bossed Bulma about, but Bulma never once questioned her or did she even refuse. All he could do was watch in semi-horror as his room was invaded.

Thick fur hides covered his windows; a heater was blasting in his room as well as a humidifier; he was submerged in several heavy wool blankets; at least fifteen hot water bottles placed under different layers and one under his pillow; and the wench had even put a thermometer in his mouth. Yet he was still shivering and cold.

He glared unhappily at the two ladies as Chichi ran through her list of things that still needed to be done.

"Alright, all that's really left is for us to do is to watch his temperature," Chichi shrugged, "He won't need food for at least a couple more hours and since his system is slowing down everything, he only needs some broth or soup to warm his stomach."

Why did she make it sound like he was a child? He gave a small growl, but gave up when she turned her dark brown eyes on him in a firm glare.

"You, Mister Vegeta, are going to behave. I don't care how easily you can intimidate most people, you cannot, will not push me around with your intimidation. Now take it like a good Saiyan and you'll be up and going in a few days. Tomorrow you might be able to move a little, but you'll feel very lethargic and slow." She scolded him before shifting her glance at Bulma, "Now since this room is hotter than the tropical rainforest and the desert combined, could we leave and prepare the room I will be staying at?"

"Oh, yes, thank you for coming all this way for this, Chi." Bulma said, forcing out a smile, "Go to my room and it is the one right across the way of it. I will meet you in a second, I just want to tell Vegeta something."

"Alright, but after that, keep it to a minimum, he needs to sleep to work this out of his system."

With that, the raven-haired woman was gone.

The woman squatted down so they were looking eye to eye. He gave her a glare to make sure she knew he was unhappy with this.

"I'm guessing you're still mad I called Chichi, huh."

He left out a growl to show her she was right.

Her blue eyes looked at him with the slightest of sorrow and remorse, "I know you don't like her or anything to do with Goku, but she knows what she's doing, ya know? I bet she's a pro at this if it happens all the time."

Now she was just trying to justify herself. He inhaled deeply before exhaling loudly in a sigh. There was no way around it. She had done the right thing in this situation even if he didn't like it.

"So does this mean you forgive me?" Bulma asked hopefully.

He grunted his affirmation.

"Thanks, 'Geta," Bulma said patting his limp form.

He didn't bother making another noise and promptly closed his eyes and fell asleep.

When he woke again everything was still dark. However, he had woken because the harpy was shifting his blankets digging out the now cooled hot water bottles and replacing them with warm ones.

"It's about noonish, so if you feeling up to it, we'll get something down you and into you stomach." She told him nonchalantly, trying not to pick a fight with a man who couldn't fight back.

He gave her a grunt, not growling this time because she already knew where he stood with her. She finished her work and quickly left.

He closed his eyes again, but couldn't fall asleep right away. He didn't even care or want to know how they were going to get that soup down his throat. Unlike them, his father had helped feed him as a child since he and his mate were busy ruling a kingdom. He had done so to build a bond with his son as did his mother when she let him drink her milk.

The ability to fend for themselves came almost from the first day they were born, but if one was raised by others until they were old enough to think and reason like an adult, they were able to do things beyond what other Saiyans could. That's why he had had Nappa. Nappa raised him, Radditz, and Turles the best he could so they would become great. Kakarrott had humans to raise him and he was stronger than all of them because of it.

Vegeta hadn't given it much thought, but perhaps the tradition had been set into motion was because the more people you had counted as family, the more urgent you would fight for them. His mind flashed back to when he tried to get to Bulma.

He had formed a family bond with her? And because of it, he had been desperate to get to her to help her and save her from her own self-destruction?

And because of that, he was able to ascend?

Yes. It clicked in his head. That had been it.

Bulma was going to be the mother of his child- though he had verbally disclaimed him, the child would always be his son. There was a bond that even the dead Saiyans acknowledge in the Garden of Eden. If she had not been apart of him- apart of his family- she would have never been even told she would be granted access when the time came.

Vegeta felt almost proud of himself for figuring it out, but was still a little bitter about it finally coming to him when he was lying on his stomach unable to move.

He just laid there wondering what the woman and Kakarrott's loud mouth wife were up to…

He hoped someone made her eat something, because if she didn't eat for the next few days, there was going to be some serious consequences not only for the woman but the other idiots for not insisting.

His thoughts were interrupted when he suddenly had the need to itch his nose. He groaned. Man, he hated this.

* * *

Chichi had not spent her time being idle. She had sensed something was wrong the moment she had set foot on the property and she was going to find out what it was or so help her, she was going to make utter chaos till someone did tell her.

Bulma was never like this before. She was a woman who was confident, unafraid, had everything figured out, and not this insane- errr… eccentric. But the woman who had been helping Chichi was unsure of what she was doing, second guessing herself if only a little, and even doing things that made absolutely no sense. And this was to Chichi's perception and sharp mind, not her husband's.

"Alright," Chichi finally said once she had made breakfast for both her and the blunette, "What is going on."

Bulma's brows knitted together, not to sure of what Chichi was talking about, "Vegeta can't move and I-"

"I know that Vegeta can't move and you freaked out," Chichi cut her off, "I was paying attention B. No. What I want to know is what is going on with you."

"Me?" Bulma asked weakly, looking less confident as the subject was pressed.

"Yes. You. I just saw you second guess yourself, B. You never second guess yourself even when you are putting in the wrong ingredients in a dish." Chichi stated, narrowing her eyes.

She meant business and Bulma knew that. Chichi watched as Bulma's meek nature disappeared and was replaced with that normal lioness look it had to it when she was in charge and in command or just plain angry or cornered like an animal.

"I do not know what you are talking about."

"There's the fire I know," Chichi told her with a smirk, "But I did that by setting you off. So. Tell me."

Both stared each other down. Both had wills of iron that could not be broken by anyone other than their equal. Unfortunately, Bulma was stronger willed than Chichi when she wanted to be, but today she just wasn't able to fight. She was tired and weary and looked like she needed an ear to listen.

"I am here for you Bulma," Chichi added, placing her hand on the other woman's shoulder, "We are friends."

And so, for the first time in Chichi's entire life, she had defeated Bulma in the battle of the wills. Bulma told her everything, conveniently leaving out the 'exactly how she seduced Vegeta into doing it' part out though.

"Oh, Bulma," Chichi whispered as she learned of the terrible event, hugging her tightly, "Oh, Bulma, I am so sorry."

"If… if Vegeta hadn't come back when he did… I would have…" Bulma started to cry again.

Chichi pulled her into her hold, rocking the older woman as she hushed her gently rocking her back and forth as the woman hugged her desperately.

"I failed. I know everyone says it wasn't my fault, but I can't help but think it was. And even now, I… I am able to accept that I will see him again one day… but the dreams!"

Chichi nodded, "They don't sound normal."

"I think… I think I am seeing the memories of the dead Saiyans," Bulma whispered as she slowly composed herself, "I dream their whole life and unless I wake up from their kills, I watch until they are killed."

Chichi paused. It was strange but not. Not everyone knew about Bulma's photographic memory. They knew she had photographic memory, but not the exact level of her ability. Once something was in her mind, she either filed it away or it was always in the back of her mind, pushing its way forward any time it wanted.

Not only that, but her mind could fill in gaps, do large mathematical equations in her head, and even decipher what something said with the slightest of ease. Her mind was her greatest ally and her greatest enemy.

"Look Bulma," Chichi sighed, pulling her away and looking at the heiress, "I don't know what to tell you about your dreams. That, you have to figure out on your own and you are a smart, intelligent woman so I do not doubt for a second you can't figure that out."

She paused, giving her the most intense stare she had, "But I never want to hear you say it was your fault again. I don't want you to think it even. You might think it was your fault, but its really isn't. You were driving home."

"In the dark at night in traffic," Bulma added, "I shouldn't have been out there driving like I was."

"You always drive that way. And so what if it was dark? You have driven in the dark for years. Traffic? How can you control that?" Chichi paused for a moment to let her think. "Everyday we do things that are hazardous to our lives, but nothing happens. Driving can kill us; we still drive. Our houses could collapse on us; we still live in them. Others can turn on us, and yet we would still rather get stabbed in the back than be alone. You can't control everything. This was one of those days that went bad, when potential became kinetic. The only thing you can do that will make your baby boy proud of you is pressing on and finding the will to move forward even when you want to stop."

There was a long silence as Bulma rested her head on Chichi's shoulder while Chichi rubbed her back soothingly. She was mentally replaying what Chichi had said over and over.

"Okay." Bulma nodded, "I will. But it's not easy."

"Losing a loved one never is." Chichi nodded, "My father suffered greatly when my momma died. It was hard, but he can smile again and laugh. It just takes time to heal."

Chichi let out a playful smirk as she heartily scratched Bulma's back in an uplifting way, "And you could always try again."

Bulma shook her head, "I don't think Vegeta will let me. And personally… I think I want my child to have a father who will be there."

"So, you want a family? A man who loves you?" Chichi asked.

"Love is out of my reach," Bulma whispered sadly, "I will never find a man who loves me like I want. Who wants me instead of my company or money… Just me."

"What about Yamcha?"

"He loves me, but not like a lover. I love him too, but more as a brother now." Bulma sighed, "Plus, he won't touch me because he's afraid I'll find out he is sterile, but I have always known."

"Oh B," Chichi sighed, "Life just doesn't seem to like to throw you a good hand, does it?"

"Being rich, being smart, being beautiful: I'd say that's a good hand."

"But your not happy and you have no one by your side to lavish you with love."

"Yeah? Well, who said that fairy tales were real anyways? The people don't get it all. No one ever gets the castle, the man, the riches, and is beautiful. Something is always missing. In my case, it is the man."

Chichi wanted to argue, but she didn't. She would let Bulma discover that there was a man who would be faithful. And he was right upstairs too.


	9. Chapter 9

Hey everyone!

Is it just me or did all the good fanfictions suddenly decrease their output time? I am so sorry that the ones that I look for almost daily aren't updating and I am not about to say that I am without fault as well. But since everything is rather slow, here is a chapter to bring a little more upbeat mood for you all. By the way. If you are known as The nevermore, you should be updating your story...It is really cruel where you left it hanging...

Again, go read 'The Unexpected' by The nevermore. Really good and awesome plot twist! If anything, go tell him thanks for correcting my errors and being my beta for this chapter!

A quick shout out to some of my fans!

Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to review. It really does help me! And yes, I know that the ending was a little cheezy last chapter, but don't we all need just a little cheezyness in our lives? **:D Cheeze!**

I really hope you'll enjoy.

* * *

**_The Setting Sun_**

Chapter 9

_Unexpected Surprise!_

* * *

**Disclaimer: will never own DBZ**

* * *

Chichi had suffered a lot of loss throughout her entire life. She sometimes acted a little over dramatic –which she knew she did- but that was because she too had lost a lot. Her mother had died when she was young, turning her father into the recluse he was until the hentai, Master Roshi, had rebuked his actions and made her father turn from his ways.

She had fallen in love with a man who was so easily distracted and simple minded, but she wouldn't have it any other way. On their wedding day, she had been fearful for her father's life, and Goku barely managed to rescue him. She had been so relieved that she didn't have to bury another parent. Forevermore, she was grateful and faithful to Goku because of it, even when he made her so mad.

After their marriage, they retreated into the mountains were Chichi and Goku bought acres and acres of land with her dowry and lived peacefully.

It wasn't until the first time her son had gotten kidnapped that Chichi began to worry for her little boy. He had been so young and innocent, a real blessing to her. He had scared her by being a whole three months early, but he was born just fine with a happy nature and was rather calm for a baby.

After the first kidnapping, she began to worry. She hated the feeling that her husband should have been there or she should have been stronger, but what scared her the most was the idea of Gohan getting hurt, or worse, killed!

That was why she hated him fighting. That was why she didn't understand why her child was the _only_ child that had to fight and put his life at risk for the sake of the world. Screw the world, just so long as Gohan was safe.

So she could easily understand what Bulma was feeling. This feeling of helplessness when she had failed to protect her baby. This feeling of misery and hopelessness because _she_ wasn't strong enough. And Chichi realized how _wrong_ it was to feel that way. This was what her father had felt when her mother had died and it made him a monster, if only for a while to the eyes of someone other than she.

Chichi couldn't help but wonder what others thought of her. She tended to let her anger and rage get the best of her if only because Goku would notice when she did so.

If anything, she had less than three years with her family till it was torn to pieces. She should make the best of the time they did have together.

Chichi shook her head, clearing her head of such thoughts. She would think about that later, when she wasn't trying to help Bulma get her life put back in some sort of order.

The first thing she had decided was that Bulma was suffocating with all these people living in her house watching her like hounds. Yamcha wasn't even her boyfriend anymore and though he might have been helpful at first, he had a life and he needed to get back to it so Bulma didn't feel guilty about it later.

"You want me to what?" Yamcha had asked her so incredulously it was almost cute.

"You need to move back out of this house," Chichi told him, "Bulma can't have you around forever, especially if you are moving on with your life. You can't take a nice lady back to your pad and have to explain that it is your ex's home. That won't do at all."

"But Chichi, we're just getting her back. She needs to be watched during the day-"

"No. She's a big girl and she doesn't need someone hovering over her shoulder like she's ready to jump out of the nearest window. You need to let her be for a while. She needs to grieve in quiet, then get up and move forward."

Yamcha sighed, "But-"

"No. Get out of this house before I go find my husband and get him involved in all this." Chichi said, her temper flaring, "I will be here for a while, but after I leave, that's it, no more, she needs to be trusted to go on."

She could see the inner turmoil in Yamcha's eyes but decided to end it.

"Look, you need to find yourself a nice girl. So go out, get a haircut, and find some sweet thing that doesn't mind having such a womanizer like yourself and _treat her right_." Chichi lectured him, "Now gather your things and go home."

"Yes Chichi," Yamcha sighed.

She had won that battle, the next was with Bulma's parents.

They were suffering because they were watching helplessly. Their daughter had found a reason to live again, but they couldn't go back to being happy lively people because their daughter was still miserable. There was no smiling while she was still sad and it was bringing the two cheeriest people Chichi had ever met down.

So she had told them so. Bunny looked like she wanted to argue and stay by her daughter's side, but she only thought a moment longer before nodding.

"Alright, we will go, but that is as long as you promise not to disrupt anything that goes on between my little girl and Vegeta."

Chichi had to blink a couple times before figuring out that Bulma's mother had _actually_ said that.

"He brought her back to us. I already count him as family and if I so much as have a chance to have him as a son-in-law, I will take it. He is the only one who knows my little girl better than she knows herself. So if those two are having a moment-"

"Don't disrupt them," Chichi finished nodding, "I understand."

"He gave her a child. They might have lost the child, but he still had given it to her. I wouldn't be surprised if it happens again." Bunny told her before flashing her a smile, "And if you need anything, please don't hesitate to call any of our people. Ryo-chan is the best because she can get you an appointment anywhere. It's one of the reasons she's paid so much and she doesn't mind doing things for you at all."

"Well where should be go, pumpkin?" Dr. Briefs asked as he looked at his wife with a sweet smile, "We haven't been to France in a while."

"Oh! And we can pick up such pretty dresses there for Bulma-chan! And maybe get her some lingerie too!" Bunny squealed happily.

Chichi left for the next thing on her list now that she knew they would be leaving.

* * *

Bulma had never been so grateful to have Chichi around like she did now. The woman really knew how to take care of a household. She was going to stay while her son and husband were camping. She had convinced Bulma's parents into taking a well deserved vacation while she handled things for the next week or so, and she had practically told Yamcha to move out again, everything would be fine.

So, Yamcha was no longer living at Bulma's house, taking back his much needed freedom and was able to concentrate on work and training as well as a little partying here and there without having to worry completely about Bulma's welfare. Her parents went to Old World France to get away from the drama back at home. They had been reluctant to go and leave their little girl, but Chichi convinced them it would help her heal better if she wasn't smothered by family.

And that had only taken her a day. On top of that, she was cooking and cleaning and helping Bulma sort through the baby's things to give away, saying it would be worse to keep them and remind her of what was not to be. It had been hard, but Chichi was right. Bulma only kept the purple teddy bear. Chichi allowed it since it was a keepsake of her baby. The rest was out of the house by nightfall.

Chichi taught Bulma what to do with the whole Vegeta mess and after a while, it was Bulma who switched out the hot water bottles and checked his temperature. Vegeta would stir every time, but promptly fall asleep afterward or during the event.

And when it came time to eat, Bulma had eaten everything she was given. Chichi wouldn't let her leave otherwise.

Bulma looked at the clock, noticing that it was slowly creeping past ten. She glanced at Chichi, who was knitting something, noting how the raven haired woman was getting sleepy.

"It's getting late," Bulma finally said, realizing that Chichi had been waiting for her to retire before going to her own bed.

"It is," Chichi nodded, stretching and letting out a yawn, "I guess I should retire to bed. How about you?"

"Yeah, I guess so. I didn't sleep much last night," Bulma told her, getting up to head to her bedroom.

She was going to go sketch a bit longer in her room so Chichi could go to sleep.

"Alright, I will see you bright and early tomorrow," Chichi nodded, standing up, taking Bulma's hand in hers and giving a quick squeeze, "Good night."

"Good night," Bulma whispered as she watched her friend go to bed.

Once the raveness was out of view Bulma returned to her sketches. She was at least on her latest detailed one that day. She had done at least three portraits so far and about twelve scenic pictures including sometimes cities with faces and people littered throughout the scene.

What was disturbing Bulma was all of them had fuzzy tails wrapped around their waists or hidden under their garments if it was able to be. Most of the time they wore armor though. She really was dreaming about Saiyans, wasn't she?

She would blank out whenever she began to draw, the memories and thoughts taking over as she continued to draw her pieces. She only snapped out of it when people addressed her or there was a pause in the memory. She finished the last stroke and pulled back to her coherent thoughts.

"Am I going mad?" Bulma whispered to herself as she finished her latest picture and stared at it.

It was that woman again. Her face still not clear since she was in the shadows, sitting near a strange looking bed littered with soft pillows and downy looking blankets. The bed was circular, enclosed by a frame that kept it looking like a bed. She was sitting with a graceful smile on her lips, the only thing she could see in the picture. She had a child in her hands and was resting one hand in her lap and one hand on his back. He was little, naked, and pudgy with rolls of baby fat on his wrists and ankles. He was holding onto her with grabby hands. Bulma could only see his back, but his tail looked like it was swishing back and forth. She studied it a bit better and realized he was nursing.

She rolled her eyes, of course that was why he was so happy. She wasn't sure who those two were, but the little boy was just too cute.

She was surprised when she didn't feel a jealous pang in her heart. She had a feeling that this woman had paid the ultimate price already. She almost felt like she knew the whole story, but it was being withheld from her. She stared at it a moment longer before closing the sketchpad and heading up. Bulma went into her bedroom, prepared for bed, and laid there awake staring at the ceiling trying hard to close her eyes and fall asleep.

The moment she closed her eyes she could feel the images flashing before her eyes. The one that made her jump awake was the image of the golden eye with a slit iris, like a feral cat's, dilating even further. Bulma tried with withstand the chill that ran down her spine as she tried to understand what she had just felt.

Killing intent that was so powerful, one could choke on the sheer intensity of it.

And it scared her.

She felt ready to cry or _something_, but she didn't want to cry again, so she braced herself, closing her eyes and chanting to herself before inhaling deeply and letting out the breath slowly. She was going to be alright. The image flashed again in her head and she still couldn't repress a shutter. Such a glare, such a fierce glare. It frightened her in spite of her courage. She didn't want to be alone.

But she didn't want to bother Chichi, she needed sleep after working so hard that day.

So she went straight for the one person who was strong enough to chase any nightmare away.

She really didn't know what Vegeta wanted to say when she quietly shuffled into his room. It was hot in his room, but she could care less at the moment. His eyes immediately opened and stared at her, but they both knew he couldn't move. Bulma just stared at him for a minute or so before walking up to his bed, crawling over him, and snuggling up to him the best that she could, even managing to snake her way under his arm just so she felt secure.

It surprised her a little that he didn't growl at her, just stayed silent.

She instantly felt better. The image disappeared immediately and relief flooded her. After a long restless day, Bulma finally fell asleep.

* * *

Chichi had been greatly startled when she came into Vegeta's room to find the missing heiress sleeping right next to Vegeta. She quickly stared down at Vegeta's eyes, but he was still out like a light. Obviously the two made the other comfortable. She couldn't help but smile, turning the heat down just a little. He didn't need it blasting anymore and if anything Bulma would have a dry mouth and a stuffy nose from it being so hot.

Vegeta would be fine because his body was made for extreme heat.

She closed the door again, heading back down to the kitchen to prepare a meal for herself and Bulma when the heiress awakened later. She was just relieved that Bulma had found a place to sleep. She had heard the woman scramble about last night, way past the time that Chichi had gone to bed, and was making weak whimpering noises. She didn't even think that Bulma knew that she had.

Those images had frightened the blue haired woman, Chichi figured out that much. The Saiyans were not suppose to be the most friendly of people, that much Goku had told her, but it seems they could be frightening when they hunted and fought.

Chichi had seen her husband get violent only once or twice in his whole life and that was only when someone endangered his family. Usually he was as carefree as their house cat (which had learned to disappear when the Saiyans came home).

If anything, Bulma just needed a good stress-less day and a couple good meals to bring her into better spirits.

Chichi began to do the chores that she had picked up at the large estate. She went into the indoor garden and greeted the animals with a nod before making sure the service bots were doing what they were suppose to and quickly took a couple minutes to enjoy the sun filtering down from the skylight above.

She could easily feel at home here because it reminded her of her husband's and her land in the mountains. They had used most of her dowry on buying the acres and acres of land, but she never once regretted it. With Goku being a Saiyan and all, he needed space to be free and yet still stay close to her. He had a hard time being stuck in one place too long as well as she did, so they moved their capsule house all around their land when they felt inclined to.

She sat there for a long time before she finally decided to get up and motivate Bulma to leave the poor Saiyan alone for a while. He would be able to move, if only a little today and would no doubt hate for her to watch him clumsily move about. Plus it was time to go and get Bulma up and on with the day anyways. She would probably need to sort things out with Ryo anyways to get back on track for her company, not to mention start preparing for her relatives coming over.

She was about to head up the stairs when she heard the doorbell ring. She paused where she stood, thinking it strange that there would be _anybody_ ringing the doorbell of the Brief's home since it required a password only few people knew in order to even get _to_ the door. It rang after another moment, proving to Chichi it wasn't her imagination.

Since whoever-it-was had the password, Chichi figured that Bulma trusted them enough to let them in all the way, so she headed for the door, opening it right when the person was readying to ring the bell again.

He wasn't as impressive in stature against someone like Yamcha or her husband, but he wasn't insignificant in height either, he at least was five foot nine and very slim and elegant. He had long ebony hair tied in a ribbon at the nape of his neck and more rounded features than most men. In fact, this man would probably give her husband some trouble since he still couldn't always tell the proper gender of people, but Chichi could tell by the way he was holding his smokes in his hand, the way his hips did not protrude like a woman's, and the way he, himself, gave her the once over with his own black eyes.

Chichi was a fighter, born and raised, so when she gave him a quick analysis, she realized he held himself in a defensive but open manner, ready for an attack but not looking as if he expected one.

"Who are you?" He asked calmly, looking at her once more before cocking an eyebrow at her, "I highly doubt that you are Bulma-chan's maid, she doesn't keep any, just bots."

His voice was an deep alto, she wondered if he could sing with such a velvety voice.

"I am Chichi. Bulma's my friend," Chichi said lamely, "She's letting me stay here with her for the week while my husband is camping with my son. Who are you?"

He smiled as he put his cigarette back into his mouth, inhaling quickly before letting out an impressive puff of smoke that almost made him seem like a dragon man, "Genki, I am Bulma-chan's masseuse."

"You're her masseuse?" Chichi asked, not really believing that Bulma let a male even work on her like that.

"Yes," He said without even missing a beat, his cigarette still in his mouth, "I have worked on Bulma since she was eighteen and I have an appointment with her today." His eyes swept around the place as if he was looking for something, "She is here today, right?"

Chichi blinked back her shock when she realized she was staring, "Oh, Yes, please, come in, I will go get Bulma. I believe she might have forgotten that she had one today."

"Possibly, she booked this appointment almost three and a half months ago." Genki nodded as he bowed his head and entered the house, killing his cigarette in the ash tray by the door, "Bulma-chan tends to forget when she is really stressed."

"Three months ago?" Chichi asked in shock.

No wonder Bulma never mentioned it, she probably had forgotten in the whole scheme of things when she lost Trunks. Chichi tried to sound indifferent when she turned on her heels, but it seemed Genki was suspicious.

"I will go get Bulma and see what she wants to do, after all, she did schedule the appointment." Chichi said.

"Do that," Genki said with a suspicious look before turning to sit on the couch, "Just tell her Ol' Genki's here to fix up her back. And get her relaxed again."

Chichi just nodded before heading back upstairs.

* * *

Bulma was cozy, her mouth was dry and she was pretty sure her nose was filled with dry blood from the heat, but she found herself content. Vegeta was still asleep but she was awake and enjoying the rare moment that he was just calm, peaceful, and not in the least grouchy. Well, that would last all of two seconds after he woke up.

She would have continued to lay there if it had not been Chichi to catch her eye. The black haired woman was motioning her to come over towards her, looking relieved that Bulma was awake and she didn't have to be the one to disturb Vegeta. Bulma sighed, wiggling out of his arm that she had put herself under and sat up. It was obvious she had woken Vegeta when his breathing patterns changed suddenly.

She gave him a reassuring pat on the back, getting an annoyed grunt as Vegeta managed to lethargically move onto his side that she had been laying on when she had moved to get up.

"Well lookie at that, you can move again," Bulma teased as she pinched his cheek, causing him to make a mean face at her and hiss out several slurred, rude words.

"Bulma," Chichi cut in, "A man named Genki is downstairs. He said he had an appointment with you?"

Bulma looked at her with wide eyes before leaving Vegeta in the dust, dashing to her room to at least get something other then her PJs on to meet the man.

"Ohmygosh I totally forgot Genki-kun was coming today." Bulma yelled as she left the room.

Chichi looked over at Vegeta how was slowly pulling himself up in his bed. She knew he wouldn't get too far and was probably only going to relieve himself since he had been stuck in bed all day yesterday.

But just in case, she reminded him, "Vegeta, you still won't be able to do much today so don't press your luck. If you collapse, no one here will be able to put you back in your bed."

Vegeta glared at her, she glared back.

"Just saying your majesty," Chichi sarcastically said the last part, rolling her eyes for leaving to go catch the fretting heiress who was trying to pull her pants up as she ran down the steps.

Vegeta just muttered something in his native tongue.

Bulma on the other hand was already downstairs and giving Genki a long winded apology while he just sat there grinning and lounging in the couch he had sat down in when Chichi let him in.

"Genki! I am so sorry! I totally forgot about our appointment, a lot has been happening and I just didn't remember that I had asked you to come and-"

"No sweat, B," Genki cut her off, standing up and looking down at her from his full height, "I know you scatterbrain types like the back of my hand. It doesn't hurt that I'm married to one."

Bulma blinked a few moments before grinning happily at him, "You finally married that hazel eyed beauty you couldn't shut up about?"

"I was off on my honeymoon the last couple weeks," Genki said, showing her his fingers on one of his hands, wiggling them to draw notice to the impressive ring around the wedding finger.

"Congratulations!" Bulma squealed, giving him a huge hug only to tear herself off after a sudden thought came to her, "Does she mind you-"

"Bulma," Genki laughed an airy laugh, "If she minded, I would have canceledand quit my job. No, she doesn't mind as long as her body is the only one I take at all to bed with me."

Bulma smiled again, truly happy for her old friend. Though she was still suffering, it did not mean she was not willing to be happy for another person. Genki had never had anyone in his life like this before because no girlfriend he ever hadcould deal with his job. He had magic fingers that brought away a lot of stress. Right now, Bulma was very glad she had scheduled this, but her original intention had been to surprise Genki with her child… But since he did not know, since he had been gone, she would not tell him… not now when he was so happy.

"You scheduled me for the whole day," Genki reminded her, "So are you having a party or are you and your friend Chichi here hoarding me all to yourselves?"

Chichi, who had come down sometime in the beginning of the conversation, tried to rectify this mistake, "Oh, I'm not-"

"Of course," Bulma cut in, "Chichi needs to be relieved of some stress, she has a little boy and one air head of a husband." She smiled as she thought of something else, "And I have one stingy friend who desperately needs some work down on his back."

"_His_?" Genki said raising a brow, "B, you know I don't do men."

"Are you crazy?" Chichi said immediately afterwards, "Vegeta would never let someone touch him like that!"

Bulma didn't listen to either of them as she went on, "I put a lot of stress on him the past couple of weeks." She looked up at Genki with big sad eyes, "You see, there has been a lot of stuff happening lately and I as well as he have been really stressed out. Genki-_kun_~, I really, really, really, _really_, need to make it up to him and even though he wouldn't ever ask for a massage or even verbally allow one, he really needs one." And to seal the deal, she made her eyes bigger and more watery as she looked up at him while hugging his waist, "Please Genki? For me? For your friend?"

Genki just stared at her for a minute, his internal battle easily displayed on his face as he bit his lip and his eye twitched. Finally he released a sigh and exclaimed, "Oh, can those eyes get any bigger? Alright, I will work on his back and see what I can do to help him out."

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" Bulma laughed as she hugged him tightly and bounced up and down.

"Yes, well, you'll owe me." Genki huffed as he grumbled something foreign.

Bulma nodded before dashing off to get the supplies he would need. He had already put them in order, Bulma, Chichi, and them this mystery man. He made a face at that thought. Men, they were disgusting creatures, which was why he preferred women, especially for his wife. However, Miss Bulma was his good friend and best client. It would be suicide to not help her. Even if she kept coming back to him, he would still have to live with the guilt of not helping her when she was in need.

Bulma was easy enough for him to do, he was use to giving her a good rub down and already knew where most of her tension built up. He had her as good as new in only a hour and a half. Bulma thanked him, giving him a kiss on the cheek before hopping off to shower and check up on 'Mr. Grumpy'. That _really_ made him feel all the more better about helping. Sarcasm there.

Chichi took a while longer, only because she was so hard to actually lay down and relax. She wasn't too keen on someone other than her husband touching her, but after Genki assured her that he only had eyes for his wife, she left him finally relieve her of all those knots and stressful kinks in her back. He was surprised that he even had to go one step further than he usually did for his normal costomers and relax her ki flow as well. He wasn't use to having people who knew how to use ki around. His assessment of her being a fighter was only confirmed.

"There you go, Mrs. Son," He finally said as he turned around and began to wash his hands, giving her some privacy, "How do you feel?"

Chichi couldn't help but yawn as she replied, "Wonderful. It's like before I had Gohan and all the chaos that ensued."

"Kids can be a handful, but they are wonderful in and of themselves. A real gift," Genki nodded as he concentrated on his hands, washing them to be free of her scent.

"Mmmhmm," Chichi agreed, wrapping the robe around her and getting off the masseuse table, "Thank you. I really needed that."

"I could tell." Genki nodded, "Hopefully that will keep you stress free for a while."

If only he could tell her how badly her ki had been flowing through her body, perhaps then she would understand why she suddenly felt worlds better.

Now with Chichi done, there was only one more person he had to do, and he could already hear Bulma arguing with someone, though their answers were slow and slurred. Man, this guy really was out of sorts. He readied his things since Bulma had informed him that 'this' Vegeta couldn't really leave his room at the moment and headed up.

"Come on, Vegeta, you know you need this."

"I… need… nothing… onna… leave." The gruff voice of whoever he was about to work on said.

"Well too bad," Bulma countered, "He _is_ going to give you a massage, and you _are_ going to cooperate with him."

He could tell that the man was going to make a comeback, so he interrupted by coming in. It was then he realized why they had him confined to his room. It was blazing hot, but it felt normal and almost home like to Genki. He laid his black eyes on the person barely managing to sit on the edge of the bed and knew exactly who and what he was. A Saiyan. This man was a Saiyan and he was struggling with the weather drop they had this week.

If Genki had not been a man of his word, he would have dropped the things he was carrying and left. This man was a _Saiyan_. Not only that, but it was obvious to Genki now that he was _the_ Prince Vegeta. But instead of leaving, instead of saying something scathing to the Saiyan, he saw this as an opportunity.

Oh no, he wasn't going to kill the Saiyan or cause him bodily harm- heavens no, Bulma-chan would never speak to him again. No. He was going to do just as Bulma had asked because that meant that Vegeta was opposed to it and it would be fun in and of itself to cause him to squirm, especially since he was so lethargic that he couldn't even summon the energy it took to kill a person of Genki's caliber.

"So this is my next client?" Genki asked, trying so hard not to smile in pure happiness as he saw Vegeta stiffen when he saw him.

It seemed Vegeta knew that he was not going to get out of this. That or he recognized the smell he carried- which was the only reason he ever smoked, to cover it up.

"Seigen," Vegeta hissed, his hackles raising on the nape of his neck and if Bulma looked close enough, she could of seen his irises dilated into slits.

"I believe that is a derogatory versionof our name, you worthless Saiyan." Genki shot back, glaring even as he eyes did the same as Vegeta's, "As you know it is pronounced the same way your race pronounces your people's name. It is only spelt differently. S-_E_-I-Y-_E_-N."

Bulma looked back and forth between the two before she finally asked the question both knew was coming.

"…Genki… you're an alien? And you know Vegeta?" She didn't know why, but she was taking this rather calmly.

"Who doesn't know Vegeta?" Genki asked calmly himself as he began to lay the table so he could work, "He was the prince of a mighty race, though I hate to admit it, and he was well known for being enslaved to that blasted lizard."

"But you're an alien." Bulma said again, looking at him in shock before backing up and standing in front of Vegeta, "You're not going to hurt him."

"No," Genki sighed, "I'm not." He let out a bitter laugh, "I am crazy for not doing it, but I am going to do as you asked and work out his tension, Kami knows how overdue this probably is." He finished laying out the needed items before turning back to Bulma, "Now scoot, I have a promise to fulfill."

Bulma stood there for a moment, chewing on her lip. Could she trust Genki? She had known him for years. In fact, she had known him long before his other girlfriends and even wife knew him. She even dated him for a while, just to get some vultures off him and her. If anything, Genki was a man of his word. He didn't screw around, he never cheated on any of his girlfriends, and if he said he was going to do something, he did it.

So she nodded and stepped aside. Vegeta on the other hand was not going to go down without a fight. He hissed at the other man as he approached and tried to fight him off, but Genki was at an advantage that Vegeta was not. His blood did not force him to hibernate in sudden changes of temperature because his world had the most unexpected weather in all the universe.

Genki surprised Bulma when he easily lifted Vegeta up, against the older man's squirming, and placed him on the table, efficiently pinning him there as he removed the tank top and the pants.

"Bulma-chan, you can go now," Genki said before he even tried to further undress the prince.

Bulma shook her head, "No. I just want to make sure… I just want to be in here till I feel he's safe."

Genki raised a brow, ready to tell her that he could be trusted, but he could see that she would not listen even if he did. Usually she was all about giving people their privacy in situations like this, so it made him wonder what kind of relationship Bulma had with the brute of a prince.

"Alright," Genki sighed, "If you must stay, then you could at least be of assistance. Grab the towel over there so I can get going. And no talking. I know he might be squirming like a four year old, but I am not about to have constant questions ruin my concentration."

He easily ignored Vegeta's cursing and swearing as he began to further undress him. Bulma handed him a towel before sitting on the bed Indian style. She could tell Vegeta was furious by the way he refused to comply. Finally, Genki himself cursed, tapped Vegeta in several areas near the neck and the Saiyan went limp.

"He's not hurt," Genki told her before she could ask, "I just temporarily paralyzed him. He's perfectly fine."

He was finally able to turn around and get the proper lubricants before starting his job. Bulma sitting there wordlessly as her old friend worked on Vegeta's back without a moment of hesitation. She could tell Vegeta was angry because of the way he tried to growl, but as Genki continued on, he could only purr angrily. Genki, the whole time, did what had been asked of him by Bulma. She could see he was not fond of the Saiyan and apparently Saiyans and Seiyens had some sort of history because the two did not seem fond of each other.

It was after Genki had started inspecting Vegeta's tail stub that he said anything, about three and a half hours of just working on Vegeta. Bulma had only left for small amounts of time before returning to watch the pro at work. He had almost been done, but he let out a groan when he saw the open wound on the Saiyan's once proud tail.

"Stupid Saiyan," He growled, sounding similar to how Vegeta would growl angrily.

"What's wrong?" Bulma asked, getting up and approaching the two.

"His tail is in bad shape," Genki muttered as he turned as shifted through the supplies he had brought with him and the supplies he kept there, "It's been opened and neglected."

"Is he going to be alright?" Bulma asked in a worried voice as she peered down at Vegeta.

"Leave it alone," Vegeta growled to Genki, he was no longer slurring the words.

"It needs to be treated."

"I won't have a _Seigen_ touch it."

"Well, it is a sure good thing I am a _Seiyen_ you stupid racist dolt." Genki snapped, turning his head around to glare at the Saiyan though he could not see it, "Both Saiyans' and Seiyens' tails are natural cesspools for bacteria and infections. Now shut up and let's see if I can't remember the remedy for this you barbaric pig. My people were much more cultured than yours were so shut the hell up."

Tails? She never remembered Genki pulling out a tail. Perhaps he kept it around he waist like Vegeta and the other Saiyans had when they came to Earth. He probably kept it under his clothes then… did his wife know about that before they married or was that a honeymoon 'surprise'.

"Your… people were wasteful… with their talents." Vegeta grunted, still saying it somewhat lethargic but not as bad as when the day had started.

"So what if they were? At least we weren't the ones that sent Frieza over the edge and destroyed both cultures," Genki scoffed, putting a bunch of ingredients into a herbal mixing bowl and grounding the ingredients into a liquid.

Bulma couldn't help but wonder the story of these two. Did they know each other or had they just been raised to be enemies? And if they had been, why was Genki helping them if he hated Vegeta?

She snapped back into reality when Vegeta roared with pain when Genki began to wrap up the bottom of his tail with a tight wrap of gauze.

"What are you doing?" Bulma cried out when she saw the syringe filled with whatever he had grounded up.

"Fixing his problem," Genki said in an agitated voice, "I might think he is a ill mannered rotten little Saiyan, but I promised to do what I could for him. I hate being a man of my word sometimes." He sighed as he injected the liquid into the tail, making the wounded stub swollen with fluids.

Vegeta was not able to voice he displeasure with words, but he was sure doing a fine job without using anything but grunts and groans and growls.

"There," Genki said, pulling away and grabbing Vegeta's clothes and dressing him in them again, "I have done all I can for you, Bulma-chan."

"Thank you Genki," Bulma nodded, "Just put him back in the bed and I will clean up the mess later. I would love to hear this entire story."

"As you wish, Bulma-chan," Genki sighed, "But it isn't going to be pretty."

With that he easily lifted Vegeta, putting him on his stomach and whispering something into Vegeta's ear and tapping several areas on Vegeta's back before straightening to full height and exiting the room with as much dignity as he could muster.

Bulma had just about followed him, but something had pulled her back: Vegeta. He was no longer paralyzed and he was indeed recovering from his climate drop paralysis as well. He had her pulled into his lap and had his hand round her neck loosely. Her back was pressed against his chest as his mouth was next to her ear.

"Do not _consider_ me again, Onna. I do not want anyone's help, let alone _his_. Next time, I will not hesitate to kill you." With that, he pushed her out of his lap and laid on his side away from her.

She barely caught herself before she landed in a heap on the ground. Bulma however had not been afraid. After all that had happened between the two of them, he gave her no reason to believe his hollow threat, so she decided to call him out on it. She turned to look at him and whispered into his ear just as he had done to her but more breathy like.

"I will consider you Vegeta. Again and again and again and again because if I do not, no one will, not even yourself. Now stop complaining and next time _tell _me when your tail is infected."

With that she left him to stew in his anger. She would wait till his temper cooled off before talking to him again. She headed down the stairs to where Chichi and Genki were sitting, sipping tea. She sat down next to Chichi and stared at Genki before finally getting down to business.

"Alright Genki. Explain yourself."

Genki huffed like a primadonnna and held his teacup with a royal air to him. With a swift movement of clothing a tail sprung out of his clothing and waved about with pride. The only difference between his and Vegeta's was the darker chocolate brown strips that littered the tail and the tip that was the same darker brown.

"I guess I should start by introducing myself properly. My name is Genki, Prince of all Seiyens."


	10. Chapter 10

Hey everyone!

Nothing to say. Just saying thanks to the Beta who read this over for me to make sure it sounded alright. Thanks The nevermore! Hope to see all of you guys review and feed me your thoughts on this twist of events. I really would like to know what you think. Also, to all you writers out there, good luck with your own stories. I read almost every Vegeta/Bulma fic out there so I am rooting for all of ya!

I really hope you'll enjoy.

* * *

**_The Setting Sun_**

Chapter 10

_Conversations with Unlikely People_

* * *

**Disclaimer: will never own DBZ**

* * *

Bulma just sat there, staring. She wasn't sure that she had heard that right, but from what she gathered, he had just said something that totally sounded weird. Sure, Vegeta said 'I am the Prince of all Saiyans' enough times to drive her up the wall, but never in her wildest dreams did she ever think that Genki, down to earth, sweet as can be _Genki_, would ever say anything like that.

But in fact, he just did. He had just said he was the prince of all Seiyens. And boy, the reason it sounded so weird was because it really did sound like he was saying 'Saiyan' except for the 'yen' sounded barely different from 'yan'.

"Come again?" Bulma finally croaked, her throat had gone dry from the shock.

Genki rolled his eyes as he struggled to keep his cool. Being around Vegeta had made his temper sour.

"I am a prince, like Vegeta, only to a race known as Seiyens." He repeated for them.

"You have a tail," Chichi said as she finally snapped out of her shock.

"Yes," Genki nodded, "I have a tail, all Seiyens have one just like Saiyans are born with them. Only ours are not a solid color. We have the same exact type of tail but the coloration between ours and the Saiyans are one of the few ways to tell us apart, unfortunately."

"So people often mistook Saiyans and Seiyens for each other?" Bulma questioned with a new found interest in all of this.

"Yes, but luckily it was not too often," Genki shrugged, "There is very little difference between Saiyans and Seiyens. The Seiyens theorized we had a common ancestor since we have the same chromosome number, the same number of bones reinforced by the same carbon-like element, the same hair and eye color variation, and even the same amount of muscles though ours cannot get as dense as theirs."

"So Seiyens are more of a slender build?" Bulma guessed, "I mean Vegeta is broad and massive compared to your lean and slender build, it that also a difference?"

"Yes. But there are some Saiyans that are born that look like us and there have been occasions where Seiyens are born to look like Saiyans. But most of the time Seiyens are slender and Saiyans are broad."

"So… if you two are pretty much the same…" Bulma started, not sure how to present this, "Do you… you know… _change_ during the full moon?"

"Yes, actually, but our world had no moon, so it was a rare event that we ever morphed. We are half the size but ten times the ki power than our usual self. Saiyans are bigger, more powerful and destructive when in Oozaru state, but Seiyens are smaller, but more in control of the ki not only in their system but all around them. If one wished, they could probably destroy the flow of a planet like this." Genki paused there giving them a strong look, "But that won't happen since I am the only living one left and I grew fond of this planet after spending almost my entire life here."

Chichi however was more interested in this 'Oozaru' state he was talking about and she voiced her confusion accordingly. So Bulma quickly explained the state the moon sent the Saiyans and Seiyens into.

"But Seiyens are suppose to have control at birth, well, that's how the rumor goes since we had no moon," Genki interrupted, "Saiyans, on the other hand, learn to harness it because of the raw power they are given and the animalistic instincts that come with the state."

"So basically, Seiyens were the more… cultured and refined race while the Saiyans were…"

"Oh, they had a culture of their own and it was refined to their tastes, but it paled in comparison to the Seiyens who built architectural wonders and built libraries and places to learn and study. The only Saiyans that even bothered to learn were those of the royal family and a few of their more… scientifically open minds. You should have seen their coliseums." Genki ranted, "Oh, the people may have been brutes, but their place for battle made even the Romans look like brain dead morons in their designs."

"So why did Frieza destroy your world as well."

"We…" Genki stalled for a minute, shifting a bit, "Might not have been as strong as the Saiyans, but we hated Ice-jins just as much as the Saiyans. You might say it is apart of that DNA theory." Genki laughed a bit at his own inside joke, "But you see the Seiyens and Saiyans had a treaty. We might have hated each other, but we knew what the other meant to one another. I vaguely remember Vegeta as a child actually. I do remember that he was a pain in my royal side the moment we laid eyes on each other though."

Bulma couldn't help but wonder what Vegeta looked like as a child. She bet that he was still the same stuck up jerk he was today only pudgier and smaller. Then again she could see Genki being almost the same only he would be annoyed by the Saiyan instead of playful.

"Any other questions?" Genki asked as he stretched where he sat, "If not, I would prefer to be heading home to my dear bride and see if she can't erase the stress of today from me."

"You said your people weren't ones for fighting, what made them such a threat?"

Genki stayed quite for a moment before giving her a smug grin, "We were known for healing. Saiyans and Seiyens were an unstoppable force if they could work together. With Seiyens using their ki manipulations they could control ki flows of another being as long as they had contact. Saiyans messed up their ki flows a lot when in battle so Seiyens would fix it. They also could do undercover work because they could kill other beings without more then a few taps in the right ki points."

"Or just disable them," Bulma cut in remembering how Vegeta had gone limp when Genki tapped a few areas around his neck.

"Or disable them," Genki nodded with a proud grin, "We were inventive that way. Couldn't destroy a whole planet, but that was what the Saiyans were for. Frieza killed both races because if one was gone, the other would rise up because they knew it wouldn't be long till they were killed too."

"How did you escape?" Chichi asked.

"Everyone was told that Vegeta-sei was destroyed by meteorites, but the Seiyens knew it to be a lie. We tried to sneak as many people as we could out, but the only one that I know for sure that made it was me."

"Was Earth always your destination?" Bulma questioned, wondering about it since Goku was suppose to destroy Earth.

"Yes. My father intercepted a reading that a Saiyan pod was heading to Earth, so he sent me there as well. I was only five and a half when he sent me off, but I remembered my mission well. I caused the Saiyan to forget his mission so that Earth would be safe from its impending doom. No one was ever going to remember him since he wasn't suppose to make it off the planet anyways."

Bulma almost wanted to laugh. The whole reason that Goku and fallen and hit his head was because of Genki. She almost wondered what would have happened if Genki had left him to grow up like he was suppose to, would he have been as cruel as Vegeta could be?

"Just to let you know, I only presented myself to him, close enough for him to smell me. The rest he did on his own. The brat was lucky I was there or he might not have made it through his accident. By the time the old man had gotten down the reviene I was already stifling the blood flow of the wound and fixing the ki flow as well," Genki said, pulling out a cigarette and putting it into his mouth. He paused for a moment, musing a few thoughts before saying, "I wonder what happened to the squirt."

"He became my husband," Chichi told him, trying hard to fight the grin on her face. It was just too funny that he had been the one that caused her husband to spare the Earth.

"He did?" Genki blinked, "Well… I'll be. So Vegeta's still got a subordinate."

"Yes well, Goku isn't the best 'subordinate' since he just does as he wants," Bulma laughed at the thought of Goku ever really listening to Vegeta like he was suppose to.

"And he sure isn't little anymore," Chichi added with a prideful look, "He is taller than you, Genki-san."

"Darn," Genki sighed, "I hate feeling short, and I'm not even that short."

He stood up, pulling a lighter out of his pocket and lighting his smoke. He looked at the two women after taking in a puff on bowed his head a bit, "Well, I'll be off. If you need help with Mr. Saiyan, please don't call unless it is an emergency. Until then, ladies."

With a quick goodbye Genki headed out and back into the busy streets of West City some distance off. Bulma and Chichi left to reflect on what Genki had said. It was almost frightening to them that it was just because of a single person that their world had been saved from its original dooms day. Chichi was also grateful that he had saved Goku's life even though he seemed to dislike the Saiyans. If it hadn't been for that kind act, she would have never had Gohan, never married Goku, and perhaps her father would have never been snapped out of his depression by Master Roshi or lived when the fire overcame their castle.

Bulma tried not to think too closely on how one deed or event could forever change the events that rolled out in the future. It was almost too mind boggling for even her brain to process, so she thought better of even trying to think of the Butterfly Effect Theory. Instead, she went and found the sketch book that was slowly filling up and began to work on it once more. She soon found herself once again lost in her art work when Chichi snapped her out of it.

"Bulma," She had interrupted, causing Bulma to jump as she was thrown back into reality, "It is time for dinner."

Bulma looked a little confused as she quickly checked her watch. Indeed, it was time for dinner and her stomach now realized that, letting out a growl. Bulma blushed as she nodded and quickly glanced at her sketchbook.

"You've been at it for hours. I was going to interrupt a couple of times, but I thought you needed time to zone out. I wouldn't do that all day long if I were you though." Chichi told her, explaining why no one had bothered to snap her out of her trance. She glanced at the one that Bulma had been finishing, "Would it be alright if we both look over these during dinner?"

"Sure," Bulma nodded, shutting her book and heading to the table with Chichi following behind her.

They ate for a while before Chichi brought up the subject again. Bulma and Chichi both looked over her newest pieces and it was very curious to Chichi.

"They really are Saiyans, aren't they?" She asked, looking at the tails in one of the pictures of a stadium of sorts.

"I guess so, it is interesting, really, because I don't know what I am drawing until I snap out of the trance." Bulma shrugged, turning to another interesting picture.

Again, of the same lady that constantly littered her pictures, but again the image of her was not clear and heavily shadowed her face. She was sitting on the castle roof with the little child again, staring at the stars and the two crescent moons in the sky.

"I think she is the one I see the most." Bulma pointed to her, "I bet most of the pictures have something to do with her perspective or something."

"Or maybe she was important. It looks like she is sitting in a elegant roof top of some sort of castle." Chichi pointed out, "Maybe you should ask Vegeta. I mean, he probably knows what's happening. If not, maybe Genki would know."

"I think I will," Bulma nodded, "But maybe in a little bit. Vegeta, no doubt, still needs time to stew in his anger."

* * *

One thing that Bulma was right about was that Vegeta was still very angry. Not only had he realized that a _Seiye-jin_ had survived, but that particular Seiyen, it made him burn with fury. Oh, he had known it was Genki the moment he saw the stripped tailed little mongrel's face, though he was now taller than him, but that had not always been the case.

His tail began throbbing again and Vegeta's muscles tightened in anger that the other male had even had the gall to touch his tail in such a manner, even though it was nothing but a small stub. It was taboo that was kept by both cultures! He should have known better that to touch his tail like… like… likeonlyamateshould. His face flushed again. He was grateful only the black haired mate of that clown had come to check on him an hour after the incident. If it had been the woman, he might of tried anything to get the feeling of the Seigen's touch off of his tail, including tricking the blue haired genius into touching -no, petting- it.

He tired hard to think of something else. Anything to keep him from thinking of Genki, the little mongrel. He was only a few months younger than he and yet he had escaped Vegeta's fate. Vegeta pulled his thoughts from the dangerous waters of his past with the reptile. Genki, the Seigen that he was, had been correct when he had told Bulma it had been the Saiyans that had caused both worlds' downfalls. Even he knew if the Seiyens had not been so close to the Saiyans politically, one culture might have survived.

He cursed quietly when he realized his mind had gone right back to thinking of the very thing that he was trying not to think about. He wished desperately for something to distract him from the pest. Even the woman would be better than thinking of _Genki_.

It was like his wish was heard and granted by Vegiit herself, not even five minutes after he had thought such a idea did the blue haired minx appear at his door. His eyes flickered to his clock. It was reading midnight. Was it really that late? Where did his day go? Vegeta felt lazy lying around like he had, but he couldn't keep his eyes open long enough to even make farther than the bathroom and back. His energy only coming to him in small bouts of strength.

She didn't wait for anyone to invite her in, she came in like last night, a frightened child seeking comfort. For some strange reason she kept picking him for her place of sanctuary, like he was someone who would comfort her and chase away the nightmares. He couldn't even do that for himself. Soon he found her burrowing her head under his arm again, trying desperately to feel protected from whatever haunted her.

However, this time, Vegeta was not immobile and he was not about to let this continue without understanding what made her shake like she had last night and even left her body shivering even though she wasn't as bad as the night before. It had made the slight shiver he had last night pale in comparison though.

The way she jumped when he had shifted made him realize that she had forgotten in her panic that he was able to move, if only as slow as a sloth. He rolled over onto his back, pulling her half on top of his so he didn't have to strain his neck to look at her. Even in the dark, he could see better than a human could.

"I'm sorry," She whispered, looking down at him, "I couldn't sleep alone…"

"What is this about, Onna? Even I know your normal nightmares don't make you quake like a lowly peasant standing in front of a merciless prince."

He noticed that Bulma had caught onto the double meaning. She let out a weak laugh. She wasn't like everyone else who shook and shivered, begging for mercy from him, yet a dream could reduce her to such trembling. She didn't respond right away, she laid her head down on his chest, and he could hear her faintly counting off his heartbeats to calm down.

It took her a while, but she finally composed herself.

"Have you ever felt such intensity that it made you want to cry, to tremble? Every time I close my eyes to sleep, I see this eye, like someone peering at me so close I can only really make out one of their eyes. And every time it locks on to me, I feel such intensity that I could choke on the power it seems to leak out. I feel like it wants to kill me…"

"Killing intent," Vegeta rumbled, his tongue no longer sloppy as it had been most of the day, "It is a trick that my people liked to use to get their enemies to… rethink their intentions or paralyze them in such fear that the kill is quick and clean."

Bulma chewed her lip for a moment, and though he could not see her face since she was resting her head on his chest, he could tell that she was deep in thought, thinking of a way to speak to him about something.

"Vegeta…"

"What Onna?" Vegeta muttered.

He was getting sleepy again and he cursed how easily he lost his energy.

"I think… I think I am dreaming about the past…"

Vegeta crinkled his head, he didn't have the focus that was needed to solve the riddle that she had presented, so he took a guess.

"You mean about your time on Namek?"

That was the only time she would have been exposed to such killing intent that she had nightmares about it.

"No… When I fall asleep… I don't dream about _my_ past… I… I think I dream of the Saiyans' past."

That caught Vegeta's attention faster than when Bunny said something about food. He sat up as best he could, Bulma quickly righting herself so she sat with her knees folded and her hands resting between her open legs on the mattress. She watched him carefully as best as she could in the dark, but Vegeta could see her better, easily reading the worry in her expression.

"What?" He asked again, testing to see if he had heard her correctly.

"I… I have been dreaming about Saiyans," Bulma told him, looking down at her hands, "I didn't understand it at first, but I started drawing these images in my head and they match my dreams sometimes… Is there something wrong with me?" Vegeta watched as her eyes became watery, almost groaning when he realized that she was going to cry _again_. "I mean, who dreams of dead people who haven't existed in… in-"

"Twenty-six," Vegeta filled in for her.

"-twenty-six years!" Bulma finished, "Is there something wrong with me?"

Vegeta sighed. He was too tried for this. She had to spring this on him all of a sudden- not like he wasn't the one who asked. He still was having trouble staying awake and shifting through his memories too. His father must have spoken about this once or twice.

"I mean, I was getting suspicious when I woke up that night and started cooking that food," Bulma continued to rant, trying hard not to let the tears flow, "But I couldn't just sit around anymore and think about what I saw…"

"And what did you see?" Vegeta asked as calmly as possible, trying to buy himself time and information to see if it could make him recall anything.

"A man," she sniffled, "he looked like you only he had brown hair and he was charging at this… purple and white lizard thing… and it killed him with a flick of his finger, then destroyed all the men with him with one ki blast."

Out of all the men in history that looked like him, only his father had brown hair. Vegeta couldn't help but gasp in air at the sudden revelation. She had seen his father die. Not only that, but she had just told him that his father had not died on Vegeta-sei with the rest of his people, but had tried to fight Frieza and failed.

His memory surged to something his father had told him as a child, making sure that Vegeta was well aware of such happenings before he left him in the care of Frieza. He had barely whispered to words into Vegeta's ear before Zarbon and come and taken him away.

"Vegeta?"

"Hush, little one," Vegeta said in response to her worried tone. He quickly remember the words he had been told and decided to pass them on, "Rest and if you see the image again, remember these words: _Eljalis nebitilim alfraition iicabiis. Altis riites iingeious mejii. Nah, tah dal iistalrii_. Everything should be explained to you afterwards."

"What if I don't remember them?" Bulma whispered.

Vegeta couldn't stay awake much longer his eyes drooping quickly as he reached his limit, "You will…"

And with that, he was out. Bulma couldn't believe how lucky he was that he could just close his eyes. She managed to settle him back into the bed so he would not wake with a kink in his neck and blame her. She quietly laid her head back down onto his chest, as she had become comfortable using him as a pillow when he had pulled her onto him.

She was afraid of that gaze staring at her so, but she could only trust that Vegeta knew what he was talking about, because even now, she felt as if the gaze was still upon her, even as she was awake.

Slowly, her eyes closed, and slowly she drifted off.

* * *

_It felt as if she had just closed her eyes and opened them to see that eye glaring at her as it had been. Somehow, though, she had not woken with a start like all the other times. Somehow she was able to remember what Vegeta had told her before conking out and repeated his words the best she could._

"Eljalis nebitilim alfraition iicabiis. Altis riites iingeious mejii. Nah, tah dal iistalrii."

_Suddenly, the killing intent that had been there vanished and no longer was there just an image of that golden eye. The dream flashed quickly before Bulma found herself in the center of a grand coluseum that she had drawn earlier that day._

_The place was empty, no sounds, no people, only her, the grand architecture and the blood red sky above that was absolutely beautiful. Suddenly, something caught her interest and before her was a figure in a red cloak and hood. She almost laughed thinking back to little red riding hood and comparing the tattered and muddied thing to what the little fairy tale child had worn._

_The sound of a foreign language penetrated her ears, she looked up to see who had spoken them, but she had not seen the other's lips move._

_"I'm sorry," Bulma tried to tell the other, "I don't know what you are saying."_

_Bulma could see the other cock his head to the side as he stared at her from under the shadow of his hood. Then, suddenly the voice chuckled, drawing near her in a flash and pulled her into a kiss. Bulma's eyes widened as she felt their lips touch. Not even five seconds later, they pulled apart._

_"Forgive me, but I was never taught Japanese, nor do I know much Galactic Standard, well, any Galactic Standard."_

_"I can understand you," Bulma blinked before taking in the features of the one before her, "YOU'RE A GIRL!"_

_"Ah," the female backed up, her cloak opening up and revieling her more feminine features as she used her hands to cover her ears, "Too loud!"_

_"Sorry," Bulma squeaked, "I forgot about the hearing thing… But… but… you kissed me!"_

_"Kiss?" She asked, slowly uncovering her ears cautiously, "What is a kiss? I was learning your language."_

_Bulma sighed, trying to calm down. No one would ever know that she kissed her. Heck, this was a dream, she realized, it really didn't happen._

_"So… you kissed me… to learn my language?"_

_"I can transfer linguistic knowledge by contact of lips. It allows me to have enough intimate contact with your ki to withdraw such information." The still hooded female informed her, "If touching lips is kissing, then yes. I had to kiss you for the ability to speak to you."_

_"Oh…" Bulma blinked before clapping her hands to the other woman's, her eyes bright and excited at such a concept, "You can learn any language by just simple contact like that? Is it all races that can do this? Or is just your race? Or is it just a trait that you have picked up?"_

_For the first time, Bulma was able to see the face of the woman she spoke to and couldn't help but gasp at her eyes. It was those golden eyes she had seen before. She couldn't help but leap back, pointing at the woman in somewhat fear as she shouted "YOU!" On the top of her lungs. Again, the other woman covered her poor ears._

_"Are you always this jumpy in your thoughts?" the red hooded woman asked, cautiously uncovering her ears once more._

_Bulma blinked, realizing how she had jumped from one subject to another to another to another, blushing at how foolish she felt._

_"Eh… No…" She said as she fidgeted a bit before coming back with a "But you are the one whose eyes I kept seeing! I was just shocked to see that… you were a girl."_

_"Yes," the red riding hood of her dreams nodded, "I am a female. But I was sure you were aware that I was a female. Did you not speak to Vegeta about his lineage? Or was mistaken."_

_This time, it only took Bulma a moment to realize that this… **this** woman before her was the only female other than his mother that Vegeta ever gave a name to in his lineage..._

_"You… You're Evangeline Vegiit." Bulma stated in awe, "Their deity."_

_"Yes," she said laughed lightly, taking off the cape, letting it fall to the ground, "I am Evangeline Vegiit, deity of the Saiyans."_

_She was dark compared to any Saiyan she had ever seen in her visions. Her skin a little less then milk chocolate. Her eyes were, as already stated, golden and her hair was touching the bottom of her shoulder blades. They were an odd bone white color that did not seem Saiyan in the least. Her eyebrows the same bone white as her hair and she wore pieces of bone as jewelry. Each bone looked like something from a different beast._

_She had that goddess like body and even though she was a Saiyan through and through, she was not as muscle-y as Bulma would have expected. She looked like she worked out and kept herself in shape, but didn't overwhelm herself with looking strong. She had a half mask on her head made of feathers. The base near her eye laid in a semi circle and seemed to hold great meaning as well as the rose like hair piece that tangles into the mask._

_Her facial features were lax, not like Vegeta who always schooled in his expressions and kept a it from showing anything but negative emotion. In fact, her tail was not wound about her waist and it waved about in the air. If anything, she was nothing that Bulma thought a deity of Saiyans would be. She did have the sharp but womanly features that Vegeta's mother had when she had seen her, but if anything, the woman looked open and welcoming. Dare she say, as friendly as Goku._

_Bulma couldn't stop the words that came out of her mouth, "Are you sure your related to Vegeta?"_

_She didn't expected the Saiyan warrioress to burst out in a bout of laughter that was pleasant sounding to her ears. Yes, she was surprised indeed._

_"Yes," she nodded, wiping a tear of laughter from her eye, "I am. Not what you expected, now am I?"_

_"No," Bulma shook her head, "You're… nice!"_

_"I am only nice to my kin," Evangeline Vegiit corrected, "Anything that does not have a Saiya-jin feel to it, is normally not welcomed by me. Say it's prejudice or racist, but I only like my people."_

_"But," Bulma began looking confused, "I am not one of your own."_

_"You are," her eyes gleamed with a loving look, "You not only were going to bear a child of a Saiya-jin, you were going to mother it. You were going to love it. You brought us what we thought impossible… well… close to impossible. Hope."_

_"But… I failed to protect Trunks."_

_"No," Evangeline shook her head, "It is the child's duty to protect its mother while in the womb. It gives her ki, gives her what she needs so it can continue to take what it needs. The child was a Saiyan child, even if it had some human blood. It is not like a human child in the least. You did your best, but it was Trunk's obligation to protect his mother. And he did well."_

_Bulma almost jumped out of her skin when she felt the embrace of the deity._

_"But, you have done more than that to bring us hope," Evangeline whispered._

_Bulma was still shocked from such loving embrace. Soon Evangeline pulled away, only to stoop to look at Bulma eye to eye._

_"Why did you glare at me then?" Bulma asked, remembering how those eyes once caused her to shiver in fear._

_"I didn't know you. It was when you asked to speak with me I realized who was wandering about in my private realm." Evangeline shrugged, "I haven't had a Seer about in almost three hundred years. I didn't think that you would be the one accessing this place."_

_Bulma let what she was told sink in. Apparently, Evangeline had her own realm and very few people could access it. She had been aggressive until she knew who Bulma was and then was suddenly friendly because she counted Bulma as one of her own. And apparently the people who could access this place had been Seers._

_"But I'm not a Seer." Bulma finally said._

_"Yes," Evangeline corrected, gathering up her cloak and putting it back on, "You are."_

_"But… but how?"_

_Evangeline didn't say anything for a moment, righting her cloak to cover her and pulling the hood back onto her head. When she was all settled she spoke._

_"Time is running short. You will wake soon. To answer your questions, the moment you saw Eden and were given a reprieve of life, you became a Seer. There are other ways, but near death experiences awaken it." She turned around, beginning to walk away, "I will allow you access here. I will see you in your dreams tomorrow night. Tell Vegeta, he should know something about all this."_

_And with that, before Bulma could even call out to the Saiyan, everything went black and flashed with a sudden bright light._

_

* * *

_

Bulma couldn't help but gasp as she awakened. She might have pulled herself up in the shock of the dream, but she had been firmly pinned down by two heavy limbs, holding her close to the chest of none other than Vegeta. She was so surprised that she had to pinch her self just to make sure she was seeing this right. After all, he had never been one to let out this sort of affection.

His face was buried into her locks of hair and his arms wrapped possessively. She now realized why he usually liked so many blasted pillows. He snuggled with them. She didn't try to move, instead she replayed the dream in her head, remembering that friendly way Vegeta's deity would act about her.

She almost wondered if that was what Saiyans were originally like. Friendly towards those that they considered apart of theirs. She had called Bulma one of her own, so she must have considered her apart of the Saiyan family. It was sort of nice, being told that she belonged.

It was when something brushed itself under her shirt, she had to try hard not to squeal. Vegeta was still asleep and it would be best not to wake him. He would be able to move today and that meant that he wouldn't hold her like this once he was done and privately Bulma really liked this feeling of being in his arms, protected.

When she felt that mysterious thing twitch against her bare back again, she used her hand that was the least pinned to snag it and pull it to her view.

That time, she didn't bother stifling her cry of shock.

It felt like a blink of time but before she knew it, Vegeta had jumped awake, trying to roll away from the piercing sound she had created, only to fall off the bed, dragging her with him since he had still a firm grip on her.

"Onna," Vegeta growled as he tried to figure out what had just happened, "What the hell."

He was lying flat on his back, Bulma on his stomach turned towards him with a shocked look and something in her hand.

"Ummm," Bulma said, holding up what she had grasped, "Your… Tail… its back."


	11. Chapter 11

Hey everyone!

Thank The nevermore for beta-ing this chapter. I hope that you guys can help me with the feedback. I love hearing from ya and what you think about the content that I wrote. Don't have much to say as usual, but I do hope you enjoy. This chapter is like the calm before the storm or a interlude. The story will be picking up, but I needed some time to go by before it picks up again.

I really hope you'll enjoy.

* * *

**_The Setting Sun_**

Chapter 11

_Reaching a State of Being_

* * *

**Disclaimer: will never own DBZ**

* * *

_That little mongrel. _Those were the only thoughts going through Vegeta's head when he stared at the tail Bulma had in her grasps. It was his alright, he could feel her touching it with those delicate little fingers of hers and he almost snorted to the irony that she was touching his tail and he no longer could feel Genki's lingering touch on it anymore.

Not that the little monster didn't purposely do this to him. He had restored Vegeta's honor with his tail and for that, Vegeta was honor bound not to kill him. Smart little suck up.

He had been sorely tempted to try and go hunt down Genki, but… Bulma had distracted him from those thoughts. She had always had Goku around, so when he was little she always stared at it, never touching it because she was afraid to hurt him. She remembered with Vegeta that his was not the same as Goku's. If she remembered properly, he was born with an inbred tolerance so a good hard squeeze didn't bring him to his knees.

Too bad for Vegeta she didn't realize that just because it didn't hurt when it was touched, didn't mean he didn't feel it. Pleasure had been one of the side effects to the tail. In certain moods where Saiyans were not on guard, their tails were an erogenous zone.

Or maybe she did know and just did not care because she was too interested in the thing. One thing Vegeta knew was that he had to get her to let go…

And quickly.

He tried to be subtle about it, but what she was doing had her whole attention, so she never realized that he wanted her to stop touching his tail. He realized she was using her little digits to locate the muscles of his tail and perhaps memorize them or see what movements were voluntary and which where not.

So basically… he just had to tell her the truth.

_"Onna, quit touching my tail,"_ he had told her, trying so hard not to pant.

_"Hold on 'Geta, I just want to study it a little longer. I never got to study Son-kun's because his was sensitive."_

Vegeta quickly snatched one her hands, placed it on the affected area before snapping out, _"So is mine."_

Needless to say, she stopped touching his tail, getting up and quickly excusing herself. If he had not been trying to compose himself, he might have teased her for the blush that overtook her face. This coming from his previous temptress when she had wanted Trunks.

Chichi was very curious to why the whole breakfast was very quiet. Especially since both were at the table and were known to pick fights with each other. She had half a mind to ask what was wrong, but her instincts were telling her to let it go. It was probably for the best that she didn't know what they were avoiding.

Though it didn't escape her attention that Bulma kept looking down at Vegeta's newly grown tail, quickly looking away and blushing slightly at her thoughts. If Chichi had to guess… well… That was usually how she got Goku's attention when she wanted to bond with him while Gohan wasn't there. And Goku's tail was nothing more than a round spot on his back.

If she had to wager a guess based on their current silence, Bulma must have found out the hard way.

As the day went on. Vegeta had been a hard one to convince not to go right back into his usual training and to use today as a warm up for the next day. Chichi told him that he could still possibly tense up and revert back into the earlier mess that couldn't do much then blink and breath.

Bulma had to check on him a few times, once or twice finding him on the floor of the GR, snoozing when his energy suddenly crashed.

Chichi had stayed the rest of the week. She noticed that Bulma was recovering better than when she had gotten there and Vegeta still watched her like a hawk when it came to her eating habits. Not that she could blame him. Bulma tended to forget herself when she was at work.

She might not have liked Vegeta at all originally, but by the end of the week, she haddecided that she liked him well enough. He and Piccolo were alright in her book now and even on the same page. Heck, they were higher than Oolong in her book as well as Roshi.

It was rather cold on the day Chichi was set to leave and she had already warned both Bulma and Vegeta what the freezing cold climates would do. His body wouldn't try to go into hibernation again, but he would get sudden energy drops, so in his books, it wasn't worth stepping outside into the cold to get the GR just to fall asleep while training. He had already done that and though he never would neveradmit it, his head always throbbed when he woke up. Plus, he hated the white crap on the ground that was called 'snow', especially after the woman snuck up on him and put some down his pants. Though he still wasn't sure how she managed to put it down his front side, especially when he had been technically looking at her while she did it.

She gave Bulma one last hug, wished her a Merry Christmas, and got in her car and drove off. She had done all she could for her friend without taking away Bulma's identity, now it was up to Bulma to let go and move on.

Later, when Goku came home from camping, Chichi had told Piccolo that he could go off and train with Gohan for a while. She needed to… _talk_ to Goku a bit about 'stuff'. In reality, she felt she needed affection from her husband and was all too emotional about what had happened to Bulma to just let it go. Life was short and she needed to enjoy her family while they still had one.

Chichi never told Goku about the death. That was Bulma's secret to share only.

* * *

After Chichi had left for home, Bulma began to go back to work. She never went in, but she was in constant contact with Ryo. Since she had much to catch up on she was planning with Ryo, telling her what errands needed to be run, and who to check up on. Ryo was more than happy that Bulma was back on track.

Bulma had yet to have another dream about Evangeline like she had expected. She was curious to why she couldn't seem to find herself in the goddess's dimension like last time. She wondered if time was different between her realm and Earth's.

She was not only catching up with her work at CC, but also preparing for Christmas. Her mother was still off in Paris, having called a day or two ago and told her that they would be back a day or two before the guest started arriving for Christmas. So, this year Bulma was the one learning how to handle the whole event.

Vegeta was gone most of the time. He was either in his GR or he was meditating in the indoor garden because it was too cold for his body to handle. Whenever he had to just meditate, Bulma could usually hear him cursing in several foreign languages as he made his way through the house. They saw each other at dinner and would usually make some weak conversation.

Bulma had a feeling he only came to make sure she was eating.

By the time her mother and father had come back, she was done with the preparations, knew who was coming, assigned each family a different house that decorated the area around the compound, and was already done with her Christmas shopping. She had been wrapping her gifts when her parents walked in the door.

"Hey sweetie," Bunny cooed happily when she saw that her daughter was acting like her old self.

"Oh," Bulma said, looking up before grinning, "Hey Mom, Dad! How was Old World France?"

"Wonderful honey!" Bunny beamed happily as she took in her daughter's pleasant smile, "We got to see the sights and hit some of the best designer stores!" She smiled wryly at her daughter after say that, adding, "I even got some presents for you there."

Bulma couldn't help but giggle excitedly. Paris was still known for its fashion, so anything that was labeled the 'best' really was the best. She couldn't wait till Christmas Eve to open them.

The tradition was everyone would get together and enjoy Christmas Eve day with each other, having breakfast, lunch, and dinner together and an hour after dinner everyone went into their own little homes they were staying at and spend the rest of the night celebrating with their immediate family. That way the more personal gifts, like Aunty Panty's husband's usual gift of some more exotic lingerie weren't seen by young eyes. Anything between immediate family was given during Christmas Eve so it moved faster (and safer on the eyes of the children on Christmas Day).

Bunny looked around, no doubt searching for her favorite Saiyan to pester and flirt with, "Where is that nice young man? Is he really training in that cold weather out there?"

"No," Bulma answered, finishing the present she was wrapping, "He's somewhere in the house. Maybe if you offer him a decent homemade dessert, he might show up. He's no doubt hungry since all we've had for the last day or so is my cooking."

Bunny looked a little worried, so did her father.

"Oh dear, he didn't get a stomach ache, did he?"

"No, but I think he choked on it a couple of times," Bulma shrugged, trying not to smile at the memory.

"Well that's good," Her father pitched in, "We all know you took after my side of the gene pool. Best not to try to cook or it will become poison."

"He didn't get sick," Bulma pouted, "If anything, it just tasted bad and made him irritable."

"I think I will go start making something for him to eat right now," her mother said, heading off to the kitchen, leaving her husband with the bags, "Sweetie, go put the presents away, alright? And I'll make some gingerbread cookies just for you."

Dr. Briefs spent little time wasted as he began to head up. He paused at the doorway, turning to look at Bulma.

"Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah," Bulma nodded, "I feel better now. Works been keeping me busy, but I think I have come to terms with it. I'm fine daddy."

"Alright sweetie," her father smiled, "Don't forget your mother and I love you very much."

Bulma looked away from her work, laying her blue eyes on her father and smiling, "Thanks daddy. I love you guys too."

He smiled at her one last time before heading up the stairs to hide whatever they had gotten her. She double checked her list of presents, checking off one for each her relatives and friends and came to the last name she had recently added: Vegeta.

She frowned a little, wondering what she could give the surly prince that he did not already acquire from her on a day to day basis. No new bots, he had plenty and few were destroyed as of late, his GR was working fine, and the man had little to no interest in anything. She sighed. Maybe if she could ever speak to Evangeline again, she would _know_ what to give him. She was after all a Saiyan.

She went back to working on her wrapping, idly wondering if her mother had ensnared the prince yet with her cooking.

One moment Vegeta's stomach was telling him that it was hungry, the next, he found himself wandering into the kitchen where all the good smells were coming from. Since the return of his tail, he rarely bothered to wrap it around his waist. Bulma had learned her lesson, so there was no one to touch or pull his tail.

So it was swaying back and forth as he entered the room, his curiosity known by the way his tail swished and his nose in the air.

"There you are Vegeta-kun," the familiar pitchy voice of Bulma's dame hit his ears.

His tail went immediately round his waist and refused to budge. If the woman had been bad enough not to resist petting it, he sure knew that her mother would be drawn to it as well. He eyed her suspiciously as she continued to bake.

"We just got home from Paris and Bulma-chan told me that she had been the one cooking. You poor dear, I felt so terrible because no matter how long or how much I tried to teach her, she just can't seem to make something that doesn't send someone straight to the bathroom." Bunny chatted as she finished pulling a cake hot out of the oven, "So I thought you might want something to eat."

Vegeta couldn't help but look grateful as the perfectly fine cake with the _right_ smell and the _right_ look was held before him. Bunny managed to catch the look before he quickly schooled it into his usual scowl.

"It'll do as an appetizer," He dismissed.

"Oh, I know, you have a big tummy when it comes to eating," Bunny said with a happy grin, "I just thought you would like something to munch on while I started dinner. I would worry about it ruining your appetite, but I know that's not possible."

"Indeed," Vegeta said, taking the cake, even though it was still in the pan, and a fork and immediately began to munch on it as Bunny cooked.

He was still cautious about the woman's dame, but he had come to realize she would not stray from her eccentric counterpart. If she wanted something, he knew he would no doubt be tricked into it only because she was as smart as her sly, trickster of a daughter.

"So, did Bulma tell you anything about Christmas?" Bunny asked him, trying to start one of those meaningless conversations.

"No," he replied, still eating the cake.

Usually he wouldn't care less, but the fact that this was bout the hundredth time he heard the word, he knew it was time to learn what it meant.

So, Bunny began to rant about the holiday custom called 'Christmas'. She told him about the legends of Santa, the more religious roots, and even the modern day custom. She also explained that there would be guests coming and kindly warned him about some of the more… eccentric, shameless family members.

Vegeta listened in order to know who was to be avoided at all costs. This 'Aunty Panty' and her husband Leroy were to be avoided no matter the situation that arose.

"So, are you going to get Bulma something for Christmas?" Bunny ended, finally pulling a roast pig from the oven.

"Why would I do that?" Vegeta sneered as he began to eat another serving of one of the other dishes Bunny had made.

"Because it's Christmas, silly," Bunny said without missing a beat and putting the food down in front of him, "It is a time of sharing and giving! I know it's hard to shop for a girl like Bulma because she has everything, but there are a few things she doesn't have."

Vegeta could feel the objects linger in his head. A child, a mate, or loyal companionship day and night. Those were the only things he knew she lacked. But at the moment, he wasn't too sure that those were things he was willing to give. He shook his head when he realized he had been entertaining the thought of giving her something. What was he thinking?

"Like a pet or something," Bunny hinted at, beginning to mix more food.

"Nonsense, do you not have a hundred or so animals already?" Vegeta snorted, not very sure why he was even talking to Bulma's crazed dame. Perhaps it was because of all the heads up she had given him?

"Oh, no," Bunny shook her head, "Bulma doesn't have her own pet. Those are all mine and Teddy's. She has yet to find one that she calls her own."

She watched as Vegeta finished up eating the roast pig before excusing himself. She knew she had finished her piece with Vegeta, so next, it was on to her daughter. She was a sly and crafty woman, of course, she was the one who looked over all her husband's formulas and had created at least twenty inventions that were patented and brought in over a fourth of the income at CC. Detail was her thing, the ideas were her husband's.

She quickly finished her gingerbread cookies for Teddy and headed into the indoor garden to give them to him. After a quick chat with her husband, confirming her suspicion, she went to check on Bulma.

Her daughter was finishing up her last present that she needed to wrap for the day, looking up at her mother with a warm smile.

"Hey, momma, what's up?"

"Oh nothing dear," Bunny smiled, "Just wanted to see if you wanted something to eat. I have already taken care of Vegeta's stomach, so I thought to check on you."

"Nope, I am good for now," Bulma said.

"Alright," Bunny nodded, heading out to leave but not without leaving a thought hanging out in the air, "I am just glad that Vegeta has been eating regularly. I mean, he was as skinny as a rail when he first came here, I was worried that he might have been starved or skipping meals. He has definitely filled out. Though I wonder if he's noticed. No doubt his pants have become a little tighter on him."

She didn't even give her daughter time to comment back. She left the room with a happy smile on her face. She knew her daughter would not disappoint.

Bulma blinked as she thought about it. Yeah. She guessed Vegeta did fill out while living with them. He was by no means overweight; actually, he finally looked like his body had gained a great more amount of muscle since living with them. She took a minute to realize that Freiza had no doubt starved him on occasion, maybe not even on just a rare occasion, perhaps frequently. The whole Namek affair, she had not once seen or heard about him eating a meal. He was use to not eating, she realized.

So because his metabolism was insanely fast, it would start taking nutrients and proteins the body needed from what it had. He had not a lick of fat on him or even a single fat cell at the time, so his body went for the next thing, his muscles and bones. Bulma could feel her stomach drop a little at the thought of his body turning against him like that. He pushed himself constantly to greater heights, but even without him knowing it, Frieza had made it so he wouldn't get stronger as fast as he should have because his body was stealing away the needed things for the body to function from his muscles and bones.

Since coming to live with them, where he could fill his gullet with the needed amount of food and substance, his muscles began to get bigger, his ribs no longer showed even the slightest, and his waist had thickened to the proper size. He was getting stronger by the day and his body no longer held him back. But there was one problem she could see.

No doubt his pants felt snug, which might have been why all she saw him in for the past couple of weeks since his return were usually sweatpants. Those had elastic bands and would still feel fine on him even if everything else felt extremely snug. They had bought the clothes for him shortly after he came to live with them while the Namekians were there.

That day when he had taken her to the island, was the last time she had seen jeans on him, let alone a belt.

It was time to take the Saiyan shopping for new pants.

Bulma smirked. Usually she would just measure his waist and do the shopping herself, but at this moment, she wasn't sure what Vegeta would want for Christmas, so now was the perfect time to take him shopping and see if anything caught his eye.

She highly doubted anything would, but it was worth a try, right?

Right.

Since she was done working for the day anyway, she figured that there would be enough time to go out to the mall before shops closed for the night. All she needed now was a very stubborn prince. But she had ways of making him do things he never wanted to.

She stood up, stretching, before she stooped back down and picked up all the gifts she had yet to place under the grand tree that had been decorated in the large living room. They only used this room for Thanksgiving and Christmas events since it was too large for just three- four- people to use. She put them under the large Christmas tree that had been professionally decorated and never gave them a second glance.

It was off to hunt a prince! Luckily she knew there was one nearby or her game might have been a little harder.

She hummed to herself for a moment, trying to think of where Vegeta might had gone off to after eating. It had been too cold for him this morning to train, so he dismissed heavy training for the day, but the sun had come out and the weather warmed up greatly. Too bad he hadn't checked after eating. So off she went looking around for a while to find the surely prince, picking up a few things as she went along.

She found him in the indoor garden, meditating by the waterfall that Piccolo had used a lot when he had been staying there with the Namekians. Bulma grinned as she snuck up behind him. She couldn't help the surge of playfulness that welled up inside her while he just hovered by the water, his tail moving back and forth as he was in deep thought. His body was in the lotus position.

She crept closer, wondering when he would catch wind of her, but for some reason, she felt unnaturally surefooted as she approached her prey. He hadn't let on that he had sensed her, but she knew he would have felt her ki by now and was waiting to scare her out of her stalking with his usual '_what are you doing woman? I could hear you tripping over your own two feet hours ago'_.

So, she pounced.

Boy, Vegeta had been taken off guard, and by a human no less. The moment she tackled his back, he lost all concentration and Bulma's momentum caused both of them to crash into the water. Bulma started laughing her head off when she finally surfaced, holding onto Vegeta for dear life as she tried to catch her breath. Her legs wrapped around his waist and her arms around his neck as she rested her head on his chest laughing. It was so rare to get the jump on him. Vegeta on the other hand was not laughing.

"Woman," He hissed, walking out of the water, and slowly and gently began to pry her off, "What the hell are you doing? Acting like I am some sort of prey to be stalked."

"Well," she giggled, clutching to him as tightly as she could. She lifted her head to look into his eyes with a playful glance, "What were you doing looking like prey to be stalked?"

His mouth turned south, his eyes threatened her with some sort of punishment if she continued to tease him, so Bulma composed herself. She knew she was pressing buttons saying something like that, so she used her nails and gently scratched his back with her hands still wrapped around his neck in order to ease his anger.

"Can you dry us off? I actually came here to check on something, but couldn't resist spooking you."

Vegeta gave her a withering glare, but noticed her mood was too cheery to break with even his most fiercest glares. He growled, drying both of them off with his ki before he felt her slide off of him.

"What do you want?" He snapped, not very happy even with his full stomach.

Instead of answering him, Bulma stuck her two fingers between his waistband and tugged, throwing Vegeta for a loop as he pulled away in shock and surprise.

"What are you doing?" He roared indignantly, putting space between him and the crazy woman.

"They are tight," she said to herself, confirming what she had thought. "Come here Vegeta, I want to measure your waist."

She pulled a fabric tape measure out of her pocket and let it unravel for him to see. She almost smiled as he backed away further when catching sight of the object.

"No."

"Awe, come on Vegeta!" Bulma said taking a step closer, "I need to know your waist size."

"No you don't," Vegeta snapped, distancing himself from the blue haired minx.

"Yes I do! You have to have noticed that your pants feel snug by _now_."

Yes, he had noticed it. He had been wondering why, but had been too busy with other things to really pay much attention to it. He didn't even realize that he had paused in thought until he felt the blasted tape measurearound his waist. He tried to jerk out of it, but it seemed she had been expecting him to.

"Woman!"

"Hold on," She snapped pulling his shirt up a bit and tugging his pants to his hips, "I just want the measurement, then I will be done. Stop wiggling!"

Bulma wanted to roll her eyes as he just acted like a big baby. He seemed to have seen one of these before and was not comfortable with it. She was going to have to ask her mother why that was since she was the last person to take Vegeta's measurements. She paused in her thinking. Never mind, she knew.

"Hold still, I will be done faster if you aren't squirming like a five year old. I am not my mother." She added that last bit in there as a blind swing at his problem.

When he flinched at her words, she knew she was never letting her mother handle this again. He held still, allowing her the measurement and she quickly released.

"See?" She asked with a smile, "Was that so hard?"

Vegeta was already a yard away from her and fixing his pants, grumbling all the while about her stupid measuring. Bulma, all the while, was looking at the number that she had taken and pulled from memory his previous measurements.

"Yep, time to get you new pants, you gained a couple inches." Bulma said rolling up the tape.

"Hmph, there is no way I gained any mass." Vegeta huffed, clearly not understanding she was implying.

"Cool it Vegeta," Bulma said, "You were as skinny and no doubt starved when you moved in. It's only natural you picked up a few pounds and a couple inches of muscle tone. You've been eating three square meals a day and training feverishly. If anything, needing a new pant size should be an accomplishment."

Vegeta's anger dwindled when he realized she was right. She didn't even realize how greatly she had just stroked his ego by saying that. He hadn't put much thought into how much muscle mass he might have gained. He saw himself everyday and tended to forget what he once looked like.

Bulma smiled at him when she realized he was no longer put out by what she said. Now it was time for the kill.

"So now that I know it's time to get you a new pant size, let's head to the mall."

Vegeta's eyes widened a fraction before he growled, "No. No way. I am _not_ going to a place where it is over run by _humans_! And that is final!"

* * *

How did she get him in here?

He still wasn't quite sure. If memory served, she might have used his tail against him, but it was really quite hazy. He just remembered giving her his word that he would go with her. He was pretty sure she had approached him with crocodile tears. He hadn't even been sure what they looked like until after he had been duped into going with her.

As of right now, he was holding her hand for dear life as they walked through crowds of people on their way to the store to buy him jeans. Normally, he hated public affections such as holding hands… But… He was not about to let go of her. He was almost fearful of getting lost in all this… mess.

The woman's dame had not been exaggerating when she described the Christmas rush of buying presents for family and friends. He sniffed the air, trying hard to just concentrate on one scent, but there were too many. He felt almost nauseous taking in all the smells at once. He wanted to go home. He wanted to only smell the delicious smell of that blonde woman's cooking, the clean smell of the indoor garden, and the smell of its inhabitants. He didn't like all these overwhelming scents.

It was as if Bulma could read his mind. She gave his hand a squeeze, looking over her shoulder to at him and gave him a reassuring smile.

"We'll go quickly, I promise." She told him, leading him on as she made a zip line to the store she wanted to take him to, "Just hold out a bit longer."

He nodded. It was all he could do. His voice had been lost when he entered such a loud, buzzing, sensory overloaded place. Sure he had been a soldier, but Frieza kept the Saiyans separate like they were wild rabid animals. Though, it had made it easier to keep from getting into scraps with the other soldiers that were spiteful to the dying race.

On planets that were populated… well, he blew them up! He didn't even get close enough to smell the population because he was not a people person, plus not having a face or a name to the victims kept his nightmares to the same nameless, faceless monster instead of thousands of different monsters.

So, in short, he was not comfortable and wanted out as soon as possible. Bulma had been doing a pretty good job at just heading to the _one_ store she needed to get to, but suddenly, she diverged from their destination to look at little fuzzy creatures in a store window.

"Oh!" She squealed, "Look at the puppies!"

Vegeta looked up at the things called puppies. They looked a lot like some of the creatures her family kept. It brought a feeling of familiarity and though the store stunk to high heaven of animals, Vegeta could not resist the temporary relief it would bring.

"We… can go inside for a while," He told her, trying not to look as desperate as he felt, "It's quiet in there."

Well, it became quiet the moment they headed in there. The animals seemed to pick up on his need of quiet from the roars and overwhelming smells of the crowds in the store and stayed quiet for him. Bulma on the other hand looked excited as she looked about. The store was filled with little 'puppies' each different sizes, shapes, and colors.

Vegeta watched as she seemed to glow while she walked through the store, still holding onto his hand as a sign of company. He didn't feel like making her let go just yet. He still needed to get hisbearings and he _knew_ using his tail would attract attention, so he kept it tight around his waist under his shirt.

"Oh," Bulma gasped, bringing his attention to the white furry thing that was jumping up on the gate that kept him confined, "It's a Kishu!"

She used her one free hand to the puppy allowing it to smell her before she petted it and was attacked by its little tongue. She laughed as she played with it a bit. She cooed only a while longer before she bid the thing farewell and went to look at the other puppies.

Vegeta could see the puppy looked just as disappointed as Bulma did when she left it by itself. His attention, however, was brought back to the woman as she cooed at another puppy. It looked similar to the 'Kishu', but it was black.

"A Kai Ken!" Bulma gasped, "No way, these things are rare!"

She played with it for a moment before she backed away, she looked at both puppies, their attention still on the blue haired minx, and she apologized to them.

"I'm sorry guys, you two are too cute, but I can't take you home. Not like I don't want to, just can't."

Why was she apologizing to dogs? Puppies no less?

Vegeta didn't know, but he had recovered while she gawked lovingly at the little mongrels and knew that she was not often that way with anything. He wondered if that nurturing side would appear if she had a child. Would she love it just as much as he had seen her love these little puppies, even if it had been so short.

"Why don't you just get them?" Vegeta questioned, "It's not like you are poor. You could buy them without a hassle and your parents have tons of these things running about."

Bulma gave him a weak smile, "I had been hoping to buy and share a puppy or two with someone special. It was going to be Trunks… but…"

He grunted his understanding. He knew what she meant. Trunks died.

"Well, should we be going back into that hellhole you call a mall? I want to get this over with." Vegeta snapped.

"Yeah. Sorry Vegeta," Bulma squeezed his hand, "I just love puppies, thanks for coming in here with me."

Vegeta grunted again, letting her lead him out and back into the mall. He glanced back at the shop once more before following her to the men's store to get him something that would actually fit his waist. He held his breath this time, closed his eyes, and tuned out everything but Bulma. That was the only way he could even survive this without getting sick-er.

He vaguely wondered if this was what the woman's dame had been talking about. Was Bulma trying to find him a gift? Or were new pants and jeans the gift? She spoiled him, he realized. She bought him things when he could have purchased them himself, after all, she had given and explained the credit card and the currency to him shortly after she started to pay him for breaking her toys.

"Vegeta," Bulma's voice pulled him out of his musings.

They were in a store, it was much quieter than outside and the smells were kept to a few colognes on the opposite side of the store. There was hardly anyone inside.

"Go into the fitting room, and I will go get you some pants to try on. I want you to tell me which ones you like and which ones you won't wear, okay?"

Vegeta only had one thing to say about her shopping, "No pink."


	12. Chapter 12

Hey everyone!

Thank The nevermore for beta-ing this chapter. I hope that you guys can help me with the feedback. I don't know about this chapter. I am trying to write out their relationship, so yes, there is a lot of them thinking about what they have. I need your feedback. I need to know if you felt that it is alright or if it doesn't tie in well. I know. They are having christmas in their story and I am posting this in June. What am I thinking? Really? I don't know.

But hey! All you who write! Where the hell have you disappeared to? I think the only person I follow vigorously that has been updating is Maddie-san! You know who you are... update darn it! Your sending me into withdrawals. (I really love ya all, that's why I bother with telling ya) Oh and to those who don't mind reading really good unfinished stories, look up a chick who's pen name is Selenity Jade. She has some pretty amazing Vegeta Bulma ideas, unfortunately, she hasn't updated since 2008. But all her stories are good. Angsty, but good.

I really hope you'll enjoy.

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**_The Setting Sun_**

Chapter 12

_Not Your Friend_

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**Disclaimer: will never own DBZ**

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Christmas was only around the bin! Bulma felt like freaking out. Her relatives were beginning to show up. In fact, today was the day before Christmas Eve! And what made it even worse was she couldn't figure out what to give Vegeta for his Christmas gift. The man had everything that he could even want. Well…

To his standards he had everything he could want. He had food, a place to sleep (even though he complained that she kept intruding when she tried to slip into his bed after a dream about another Saiyan), and a place to train.

Bulma was getting nervous. She wanted to give him something that he would like. Something that he wouldn't break or throw out. She closed her eyes and sighed heavily as she plopped down in front of an easel. She was painting something but she still couldn't tell what. The picture was being painted from the outside in and she had yet 'seen' the main focal point of the picture.

She decided that she really hoped she would see Evangeline again soon because she had a butt load of questions only the Saiyan goddess seemed to be able to answer for her…

Not like she had mentioned it to Vegeta. She suddenly realized that in the shock of seeing his tail again, she had forgotten all about telling him about Evangeline! That on top of her embarrassment about giving him a hard-on and avoiding that subject for a while and then she had to plan Christmas! She had totally forgotten to talk to Vegeta about it.

She decided to talk to Vegeta about it tonight. He was going to need someone to drag him away for a while, especially if Aunty Panty caught a glimpse of him. Poor Vegeta. She loved buff men and what was worse was Uncle Leroy did nothing but encourage her. Bulma knew that there were teases that way, but Vegeta didn't. He would want to get away for a while once Aunty Panty showed up. Maybe she could call Yamcha and see if he could cover for Vegeta? Nah, Yamcha would never go for it.

Her mind began to blank as she started to paint again. She wouldn't have to worry about guest arriving till late in the evening. It was still around noon and everything was done so no one would be looking for her.

Over the past few weeks, she had filled her sketchpad, started a new one and was half way through that one. She decided to paint one just so it would go slower. She lost herself in the painting, everything escaping her for just a while as she painted this picture of… whoever. It made her feel better.

She snapped back into reality once she finished her last stroke. She stared at the picture and almost gasped at who she saw in the painting. It was Vegeta's mother. She was standing on the balcony, looking into the sky that was as red as a rose and enjoying her moment of quiet. Bulma quickly pulled away, something snapping in her head, she had seen that expression before, only shadowed.

She opened her old sketchbook and sure enough the woman nursing the child was Ze-Azel. She almost let out a bout of laughter, realizing that the little boy was none other than Vegeta. She would probably be wise never to mention the picture to him, cause this was as bad as her naked baby pictures. She looked back at her finished work, admiring the peaceful expression of her Majesty. Suddenly it struck Bulma. She smiled happily as she zipped off to go and get something that would be much needed. She would talk to Vegeta about Evangeline after Christmas!

* * *

Christmas. He wasn't even sure _why_ he was around the area. He should have gone and flown to the nearest tropical weathered place he could find and stayed there! The desert would have been just as good! But this! This thing that he had decided to observe was torture! He was only here because he knew that it meant a lot to the woman for him to be there and what was worse was he found himself giving into her!

Oh, and let's not forget to mention that the first person he ran into was the very person he had been warned to ignore and evade like the plague! And what happens? She sees him, throws herself at him, and cops a feel! The only reason he didn't blast her was because he, one, had been forewarned about her; two, had been told not to kill the family; and three… well, he wasn't even sure why he was listening to reason two! He still had yet to threaten her or remove her from his person, but perhaps that was because he was still in shock from her little move. Humans might not have been the strongest race he had met, but they were no doubt the most daring!

"What a fine young man isn't he Leroy honey! Wouldn't he make a marvelous model back at the company? I mean, look at all these handsome muscles!" The Panty creature told her husband as she stroked his stomach with manicured hands.

Vegeta still was so stunned that he didn't even move.

"Yes he would," Leroy, her mate, agreed with her, backing up and taking his thumbs and pointer fingers and making a rectangle with them, "He would be very photogenic!"

By that moment, Bulma came to save the day.

"No," She interrupted the two of them, pulling her Aunt off the poor alien and directing her to her husband, "Vegeta is not interested." And just as her Aunt and Uncle were about to make a fuss, she wagged her finger at them, "What did I tell you about him anyways? I told you not to make him uncomfortable! He's not from around here and is shy enough as it is! Don't go making him clam up before everyone else gets here!"

Vegeta raised a brow at her while she continued to lecture her family. _Shy? I am by no means shy!_

"Do you have anything you want to add Vegeta?" Bulma asked him, snapping him from his mental tirade.

"No," was all he said after looking at the two odd pair.

Surprisingly, when Bulma and her mother had originally told him about the two, he figured fat, ugly woman and a little squatty man. Not a somewhat decent (this is Vegeta after all, decent in his standards is more like beautiful in real life, but we all know that Vegeta's perception is his reality.) looking woman with a familiar looking face that reminded him of the woman and cyan colored hair. She must have been Bulma's sire's littlest sister. Her husband looked of the artistic type and had a thin, but well exercised body and unfortunately was taller that Vegeta. In short, not what he expected.

"Well then, off with you two!" Bulma said, "Go see daddy, I bet you have yet to greet him. Also, Aunty Corset will be here within the hour. Maybe you should go catch up with your siblings?"

Panty sighed dramatically, casting a sly smile at her niece, "If I must, I guess I will allow you to play nice hostess to your house guest. After all, I have heard high hopes of him becoming a member of the family, I for one will not ruin those chances."

With that, she cast Vegeta one more trailing glance before taking her husband's arm and the two of them left to find her Teddy bear brother.

Vegeta blinked a few times. Member of the family? What? He glanced down at the woman to see her face a rosy pink as she stared at where her Aunt had been with the most embarrassed look on her face.

"Woman, what did she mean by member of the family?" Vegeta tried to keep his composure, but it was hard after meeting such a forceful person that actually got away with copping a feel down the front with just a no-no.

"It means," Bulma finally breathed, "That I am going to go kill my mother."

Vegeta arched a brow that her statement. This was very unlike her, but instead of mentioning that he just said, "Can I watch?"

Bulma laughed a little at his dry joke. He knew she wouldn't really kill her dame, unfortunately, (who would cook if she did?) but it did sound like something he would enjoy at this moment. Whatever Aunty Panty meant did not sound like something good.

"No, I can't really kill her," Bulma sighed, raking a hand through her hair, "But I can lecture her for telling people that. I already told everyone you were shy and preferred to be left alone."

Ah. That brought him back to his original thoughts he was going to talk to her about before this 'member of the family' thing arose, though he still didn't understand why Bulma was so upset about it.

"Ah. That." Vegeta said calmly before growling, "Who the hell is shy?"

"You are." Bulma said without even batting an eye.

"I am _not_ shy."

"Yes, you are."

"Onna, what the hell are you talking about. Since when have I been shy? It is ludicrous that I, prince of all Saiyans, is shy."

Bulma turned to him, flashing him a grin, oh, she loved to ruffle feathers!

"Well I couldn't tell them that you were bloodthirsty and temperamental with a severe hate of social events and are boarder-line agoraphobic, now could I?" She began to walk away, hoping her bait would make him follow.

"Agoraphobic? Preposterous! I am not afraid of going outside this human palace of yours!" Vegeta growled, not denying the other accusations, but baited all the same to follow her as he tried to argue her statement.

"Alright then, your shy."

"Am not!"

"Then why did you hold my hand at the mall?"

"I was getting sick from a sensory overload, you idiotic woman, and you wouldn't let go." Vegeta argued.

"The time I asked you to let me bare your child? That was really shy of you."

"You asked me to give _you_ an heir! Any man with a head on his shoulders would tell you no if all you were doing was asking them to be used as a fertilization tool!"

"You fell backwards in a chair and ran."

"I did not!"

"Maybe not right away, but you still turned tail and ran for the hills."

"I was right to leave! Don't you remember the time you used the pheromones to try to lure me into laying with you?"

Ah, yes. She almost had him that day.

"Alright. I'll give you that one. But how about the time when I had all that company over? You just clamed up and it took me an hour to convince you to unlock your door. I had to threaten you with the GR too."

"I don't remember that," Vegeta snuffed, clearly lying.

"Not even a week later, the GR blew up." Bulma told him dryly, "Face it Vegeta, you're a extremely introverted shy guy."

"Woman, I am telling you this now. I was going to be a king, a ruler of thousands and thousands of men. I cannot be shy."

Bulma turned around to face him, watching how he stopped before crashing into her, "Vegeta, just because you couldn't _act_ shy doesn't mean you're _not_ shy. You're good at putting on a good act. I bet that if you had to talk to all of your subjects face to face and were expected to look them in the eye and socialize with everyone in the room, you couldn't, not comfortably or without escaping once or twice. You aren't good with people. Sure, you don't care if a thousand eyes are _on_ you, but you are no good at mingling with people you don't know. I know you too well. You put up a tough guy front, but in honesty, you're shy."

Out of things to say to her, Vegeta crossed his arms, jerked his head to the side as he huffed her comments. He felt his face burn with anger at her accusations. But no matter how much he wanted to prove her wrong… he couldn't find fault with what she had said. Was he really shy? Argh! That sounded so pathetic! It sounded like he was Kakarrott's brat! That was shy!

"Just because you act differently than Gohan does, doesn't mean your not shy," Bulma told him, taking his hand and pulling him to follow.

Vegeta blinked. Was she reading his thoughts!

"No, but I know your expressions way too well. The few you have anyways." Bulma giggled, patting the hand she had accosted and tugged again, "Come here. We need to find you something more festive to wear before everyone else starts showing up. If any of my aunties on either side of my family see you in nothing but a muscle shirt and spandex training shorts, there will be more than just Aunty Panty copping a front feel."

Vegeta's face lit up at the mention of what that daring woman had done. His body shuttered at the memory and it made him worry about the rest of this crazy, eccentric family. He didn't say anything as she giggled, leading him down the hall to his room to help him pick out clothes for the occasion. Normally he would care less, but let's be honest, these were relatives of the woman. If she was daring enough to pour pheromones all over herself to get his attention, and walk around in nothing by a few strips of cloth she claimed to be a bathing suit (which was even more revealing then those little nightgowns she liked to wear), then these woman were likely to be just as bad or worse.

So he would allow her to dress him appropriately. They got to his room, she allowed him to go take his shower. He stripped and got in, allowing the water to run over him while he stood there in thought.

When had things changed? He knew he had decided the day that he had learned of his son's death that he and she would try again but differently this time around, yet to what extent was differently? Was he really allowing himself to be tamed? No. He still did as he pleased. He only did what he pleased, but lately, he found himself wanting to please her.

His once dead heart beat again, slowly but steadily, because of her, the way she looked at him and the way she made him feel. She made him feel wanted. At first, she wanted to use him, but now she only wanted him. She came to him for comfort, she came to him to make sure he was well, and she took care of him and listened.

How did it come to this? That he was actually no longer disgusted with himself for even talking to the woman?

He realized that he had changed his mind up in space. He had come back and panicked when he heard about her locking herself in her room. He had reached Super Saiyan for_ her_. He had formed a family bond with her and he was not ashamed of himself like he once might have been. He didn't know why though, what had changed inside him that made him not mind?

Her, she was the cause of all of this.

His head hammered with a headache. He couldn't think anymore about it, so he went back to washing.

After washing his sweat off of himself as well as grooming his tail and hair quickly, he stepped out, noticing that there was only a pair of boxers waiting for him in the bathroom. He grumbled as he pulled them on, letting his ki lap over him till he was dry.

He walked into his room to see what she had done to his room in his absence. He almost had a fit the moment he saw all his clothes pulled out and no longer in their proper places. Yep, she made him feel alright. Not all of it positive either. She was looking through several shirts as he entered the threshold of his bathroom door and gave him a quick glance.

"No," She said, putting down the shirt she had picked up, "That's to casual."

"Woman," Vegeta managed out, trying hard not to lose his temper.

"Yes, Vegeta?" She asked, looking at a nice button up shirt that was a deep red.

"What have you done to my room?" He asked, it apparent that he was seething with anger though he was able to keep in control.

"I pulled out your clothes, Vegeta, its not the end of the world." Bulma said, pulling out a pinstriped vest and slinging it over her arm along with the shirt, "I needed to see them all."

"You _made_ a _mess_."

"Yeah?" Bulma said, looking at him with the 'duh' look before realizing what he meant. "I'll put them back the way I found them. Now come here and help me find those black jeans we bought you. Oh, and pull out your black boots you wore that day you flew me to your little island."

Vegeta growled as he moved from the spot on the door he had been leaning on. He quickly brushed past the woman, ignoring the way his skin tingled when it touched hers and quickly when to his drawers, opening only one, pulling out the very jeans she was looking for then quickly turned, walked to his closet, and pulled out the boots before holding out his arm for the shirt and vest.

Bulma smiled at him. She was trying not to giggle at his anal habit of having everything in a particular spot. She had seen him organizing his sock and underwear drawer once, but was able to hold in the laughter till she reached the safety of her lab. She remembered the order the clothes were in and began to put them back exactly the way she had found them as Vegeta slowly dressed.

He was not use to wearing these clothes and was unsure about the vest. He easily enough put on the jeans, noticing how they fit instead of feeling tight. He slipped his tail through the hole they had made for it and put socks on as well as his boots. Now, for the part he wasn't sure on. He guessed the shirt went on first, only because it had to defeat the purpose of the vest.

As he was putting the vest on, he could sense Bulma heading over to him. He noticed everything was in order again and all it needed was her to put them in their proper places. Bulma looked him over for a moment, then reached up and undid the first button, folding out the collar a bit.

"There, now you don't seem so formal," She said, taking her agile fingers and quickly buttoning the vest and giving it a quick tug, "This fits well. I was worried at first that it wouldn't work, but I think it does."

She quickly took the end of his shirt and tugged on it, pulling it out of his pants since he had tucked it in, "There we go, nice but causal."

"I am not one of your little friends that you can dress as you please," Vegeta warned her when she went for his cuffs to quickly adjust them.

"But you are my friend," Bulma argued, snagging one of his sleeves and adjusted the cuff, "And because of that, I will make sure you look nice and also are left relatively alone. Now give me your other hand."

He didn't know why. It just struck a cord with him. He didn't like that word. It felt like almost an insult. That word: _friend_. For the longest time, he could not remember having one. Nappa, Turles (till the day he disappeared), and Radditz had always been companions, pack brothers. They didn't use the word friend. Friends betrayed others, pack brothers did not. They had been strong in the beginning, but over the years of Frieza's care, they realized what it meant to be pack brothers.

That was why he killed Nappa. Freiza would have surely killed him slowly. He didn't need Nappa like Vegeta needed him, so he would enjoy the big brute's death slowly to also torture Vegeta. Turles left in order to save his brothers from a mistake he had made. No one knows what he had done because no one could ever find the evidence, but if they had tortured Turles enough, they might have known what he had done. But no one did, not even them.

Friend. It wasn't a word he liked. He didn't want a _friend_. People could stop being friends over time, people could become enemies. Pack mates were the only safe thing that Vegeta knew of. He couldn't believe it, but at that moment, he had realized he had put her into that category as a pack member. Her, her insane dame, and her crazy sire were his new pack. He realized how many liberties the woman took and for some strange reason he let her.

They had been through so much. So many things had happened between them! So how dare she just call him _friend_. Even he knew, whether he wanted it or not, that they were more than that!

So, when Vegeta did not give over his other hand, Bulma looked up at him, matching his glare.

"What? Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed or something?"

"There is only one side of the bed I can get out of, Onna," Vegeta stated pointing to his bed that was up against the wall.

Obviously, he did not get her joke.

"Then what's your deal? I am trying to help."

"I am _not_ your friend."

"Yes, you are," Bulma huff trying to snag his other hand that he was keeping from her, "You just don't want to admit that someone actually cares about you or vise versa."

He cared for her. He would admit that in his own way at any other time, but this one. Right now, he was still angry that she insisted they were only friends.

"I care for no one," Vegeta growled, raising his hand from her reach.

"That's a lie, Vegeta," Bulma argued as she stopped what she had been trying to do in order to look at him sternly.

"It is not!"

"Then why did you bother to take care of me? Why did you bother to make sure I was eating and recovering? Even now I know you come down and eat with my family because you want to make sure that I am eating. I am not stupid Vegeta and I know you're not oblivious to your own actions. What is the matter? Why are you having a temper-tantrum about being called a 'friend'?"

"We are not friends!" Vegeta told her once more, crossing his arms and getting in her face.

"Oh yeah!" Bulma roared, putting her hands on her hips and getting in his face too, "Then what the hell are we then?"

The searing kiss that had her stumbling backwards was not the answer that she had expected. Hands shot out, catching her before she could fall backwards any further and wrapped around her, pulling her close. Slowly, Vegeta pulled his lips away from hers, but kept his hands around her waist. Her eyes were wide as she looked at Vegeta's.

"We. Are. Not. Friends." Vegeta clarified again, before pulling away, fixing his sleeve in front of her to show her he knew what to do.

He headed to the door, stopping at the threshold and casting her one last glance, "We're more than that."

And with that he was gone.

* * *

Bulma blinked. She just stared at the door, her mind drawing a blank. Did he? Did he really just… kiss her? Did he really just say what she thought he said?

Her mind replayed the scene and she couldn't keep the smile off of her face. Yes. He had kissed her. He had gotten so mad over her just calling him her friend that he clarified it very well that he was not her friend, he was something more. Or at least he wanted to be something more.

She turned around and quickly cleaned. Was this what Evangeline meant when she said that she had done them more than just continue their race to bring them hope? Did she mean Vegeta? Bulma's good mood crashed for a second. Was she really ready to move on? She lost Trunks barely two months ago. Was she really ready to move on in a relationship with the very man once refused to even give her her child?

_"And you can pick up right were you left off," Vegeta quoted her._

She smiled when the words he had told her to comfort her. Once Trunks's death rose from her mind, she realized her answer. Yes. One day she would see Trunks and pick up right where she left off. It was time though to pick up where she left off with her life and move on. It was time to move on… and this time, she did want Vegeta in the picture, and not just as the man who gave her a son but as a permanent companion.

Her heart felt giddy again as she went to get ready. She had made sure that Vegeta had looked nice, now it was her turn to look nice. It was time to move on. It was time to live again.

She took her time and changed, coming down again only after she decided that she looked nice enough. A strapless scarlet red dress that had black lace on the hem and front of the of the dress, showing off some cleavage and long black lace gloves and strappy heels. It looked wonderful, but it was simple enough to be causal as well. Her hair was pulled up and held together by two chopsticks and with some make-up and rouge, she was good to go. All she had to do now was track down her Saiyan.

It hadn't been as hard as she thought. Apparently, once he had cooled down some, he had decided that it would be suicidal to go down there with all those… squealing women. He could tell which side of the family they hailed by the color of their hair. Some of the men had the sibling look and Vegeta was baffled at how many family members the woman _had_!

She had caught sight of him first. His head was down, his body leaning against the wall with one leg propped against it, and his arms were crossed. Oh, he looked good. He hadn't looked up yet, but could tell she was in a good mood, just by the way her ki felt.

"So, we aren't friends?" Bulma clarified, walking up so he could see her legs at least, "Then, Prince Vegeta, where do we stand with each other?"

"I haven't the faintest idea," He confessed with a sigh before pulling his head up to actually look at her.

She could tell that he was going to continue, that was, until he actually saw her. His breath got caught in his throat and his eyes widened as he thoroughly gorged himself on her appearance.

She couldn't help but smile, the way he was looking at her made her feel confident. Something she hadn't felt in a while. She moved closer to him so that her lips almost touched her. "Good, then it means we're on the same page," She whispered, gently touching her lips to his and pulling away.

She was halfway down the stairs when he brain caught up with the events and he was at her side not even a second later. She smiled at him as he glared at her dirty trick, but sighed after a moment. He couldn't seem to stay mad at her at the moment and he was finally relieved that she was acting like herself around him. Especially after he had just kissed her out of the blue!

She didn't seem mad or angry, but instead glowing and happy. He took it as a good sign.

"Woman," He whispered, stopping her before she could get all the way down the stairs.

"Yes, 'Geta?" She responded looking at him with a curious glance.

He couldn't help but flush a little as he looked away, anything was better than looking into her eyes as he admitted this.

"Your family is crazy and I would be stupid if I even tried to stay around them without some sort of distraction, like yourself. So, don't you dare leave me alone with all those screeching harpies."

Bulma stared at him for a moment before giving him a understanding smile and offering him her hand, "I get it, Mr. Shy guy, I won't leave you alone with the scary relatives. Who knows what they might try if I'm not there."

The scary part was there was no sarcasm and very little teasing in her voice. Vegeta took her hand, a sign of trust from the usually untrusting Saiyan, and both headed down.

Bulma had laid down the rules early that day to Vegeta. No eating large amounts of food in front of her relatives. He could snack, but as soon as everyone resigned for the night, the kitchen would be open to him with enough food to fill his large appetite. On Christmas day, he would be fed early in the morning. He would have to watch what he ate for lunch and eat only a little. Bulma would try to figure out how to get him more and again, after dinner, enough to feed him properly. He told her that he could skip a meal or two, but she was against him missing meals. Said he had done that enough in his life time and as long as she was a rich heiress, which she would always be, than he would not starve.

So when the two of them officially entered the scene, a lot of her Aunts and cousins jumped in to greet her. Vegeta was quite for the most part, he answered few questions but kept his face in its regular scowl. No one bothered him much luckily. Bulma, however, he realized talked and conversed with all her relatives, drinking a few glasses as she caught up. She had been doing relatively well until one of her more stuck up cousins brought up a very sore subject.

"So Bulma, I heard about your accident." She started, looking her richer family member with a disdainful glance, "It seems you recovered well for losing a baby. It hasn't even been two months since it hit the news and here you are, strutting your stuff again. How do you do it? Did you really just not care?"

Vegeta watched as the harsh words wounded the woman. He could see that her mood was going to turn a 180 due to the shallow words of a stuck up whore. He could smell all the men she had been with. Her stench burning his nose. So, as Bulma had once told him, an eye for an eye.

"What about yourself? Do you just naturally throw yourself against anything that has a penis? You speak as if you are her better, but in reality, you are just some cheap slut that has no morals what so ever. Do not speak again unless your small dysfunctional brain can learn to comprehend the situations before it. Did I speak too fast or did you manage to keep up with my big words." Vegeta interrupted, grabbing hold of Bulma's waist and directing her away as her cousin's mouth hung on its hinges as she tried to wrap her brain around what had just been said.

He pulled her away from the crowds to regain her wits and recover from such painful blows to her mental and emotional recovery.

"You know," Bulma breathed after a moment, "I think that is the first time any of us have managed to effectively shut her up before. All my cousins my age have been trying to do what you just did for years."

"On occasion, being able to smell the different scents of men on a female does pull through," He smirked, "I am just relieved that I no longer an standing so close to that putrid smell. It was beginning to burn."

Bulma gave him a breathy laugh as she smiled at him with sad eyes, "Thanks Vegeta."

"It was an attack against me as well," Vegeta told her, "I invested too much time for someone like her to bring you back down. That is my job and my job alone. Now, when are these people leaving? I want to eat soon."

Bulma knew him too well. She could tell he was just covering up the fact that he had protected her. It was something he was in the habit of doing. Didn't want to look weak in front of anybody, including her.

"Alright, people are heading to bed anyways," Bulma nodded, "Let's get you fed."

She led him away for the night, making sure to say goodnight to her family members before she herself actually headed off to bed. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve. Everyone would be buzzing about doing as they pleased until it was later in the evening and dinner time. Christmas Eve was for immediate family to spend time with each other and open presents from one another.

Bulma bit her lip as she slipped in between her sheets. She just hoped Vegeta would like his gift tomorrow. She was almost terrified. Soon she dozed off and dreamed, not noticing when the Saiyan slipped in right next to her to guard her from her nightmares. All he had to do was beat her up and make sure she never knew he was there.


	13. Chapter 13

Hey everyone!

Thank The nevermore for beta-ing this chapter. I hope that you guys can help me with the feedback. I don't know about this chapter. I am trying to write out their relationship, so yes, there is a lot of them thinking about what they have. I need your feedback. I need to know if you felt that it is alright or if it doesn't tie in well. I know. They are having christmas in their story and I am posting this in June. What am I thinking? Really? I don't know.

Yes... I shot myself in the foot with my last comment about my favorite stories disappearing. I should have the next chapter of Almost Full Moon posted either this week or next. It is hard because it is a transitioning chapter. It looks somewhat like a filler, but it really is setting up the stage for the whole story, thus, making it hard... Sorry, I'll start working on it again, but I have really enjoyed writing this story and it is still in the front of my head.

There are some awkward scenes with Vegeta, but I tried to take into consideration his past and his enemies. Just because someone is strong mentally doesn't mean they don't break down time to time. With everything Vegeta has lived through, he's bound to have a couple nightmares that even shake him up.

I really hope you'll enjoy.

* * *

**_The Setting Sun_**

Chapter 13

_Long Christmas Eve_

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**Disclaimer: will never own DBZ**

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_It began like most of her dreams. She was watching the events roll out before her, observing the life that had been chosen this time. Surprisingly, it was rather peaceful for being the life of a Saiyan. The Saiyan battled, but was never one to participate in a fight to the death. Extremely skilled, but the skills were used in a stadium instead of off planet like most._

_It was in the middle of this dream that everything became grey, slowing and coming to a pause for a moment. Bulma couldn't help but blink as she realized she was in her own body now. She moved about looking for the reason her dream had been put on hold. She wasn't sure, but there had to be a reason, right?_

_Suddenly, she came across a familiar face. It was the only one that was in full color and as out of place as she was. That same serious face she always seemed to wear as she stared at Bulma. Both stared at each other, Bulma having not seen this woman since she had said goodbye to Trunks._

_"Your Majesty," Bulma finally said._

_Her Majesty nodded, smirking a oh so familiar smirk before raising a fist before her. As she spoke, she slowly uncurled her to show her empty palm, but it seemed to be a jesture of some sort._

_"Wake, little one," She spoke, "You are needed elsewhere at this moment."_

_From her palm came a white beam of light that engulfed the whole place, pulling Bulma out of her slumber._

Bulma's eyes shot open. Quickly she glanced about her dark room before letting out a sigh. Nothing looked out of the ordinary from where she laid… but... why was her bed shaking?

It was the strangled, weak growl that had her turning around onto her other side, shocked at seeing the Saiyan that laid there. He was panting, sweat covering him as his eyes mashed together. His muscles were tight and his fists were clenching the sheets underneath. She gasped when realization hit her. Vegeta was having a nightmare.

"Vegeta," she whispered, being careful as she did so.

She didn't know what would happen if she startled him at this moment. She remained where she was, but raised her voice as she once again called to him.

"Vegeta." Nothing, so again, "Vegeta, wake up, you're dreaming."

Nothing. He was still asleep and still dreaming. However, she couldn't let it continue, so she used her less dominate hand to reach out to him, resting it upon his face and calling to him again.

"Vegeta!"

Finally he jerked awake, grabbing onto her arm. She could tell by the way he had squeezed that he had been a second away from crushing it before he found himself. He was still panting, shaking against his will as he glanced at her.

"You were having a nightmare," Bulma whispered, using her hand that he had yet to remove to caress his face gently, "Are you okay?"

He jerked away from her hand, releasing it like was burning to the touch and moved away, readying to get up. "I'm fine," He growled.

Bulma could tell he was greatly startled because even though he had sat up, he couldn't make himself leave. He was shaking badly still and despite what he had said, she knew he was not alright. She sighed, getting onto her knees and crawling behind him as he tried to compose himself or whatever he was doing at the moment to make himself move.

She could feel him tense when she wrapped her arms around him and rested her weight on his back.

"I said-"

"Shhhhh," Bulma hushed him, hugging him tighter in her grip as she did, "It's okay to be frightened. No one is completely without fears."

"It's a weakness," Vegeta argued dimly, but she could feel him loosen under her hold, still shaking like a leaf though.

"I don't think it is," She whispered in his ear, "Now how about you come and lay back down with me for a while. Until you feel that you want to leave."

She tugged on him when she felt that he was about to make a fuss, and he seemed to comply once he realized he could be fallen even by a frail woman like her in his shaken state. He laid down, opening his mouth to lay down the rules, when Bulma laid right next to him, pulling herself close enough that his face was buried in her chest. All forms of communication died at that very moment within Vegeta.

Bulma knew what she was doing though. She held the back of his neck with one hand and combed her fingers through his hair with the other. He had done so much for her, she knew that this was the least she could do for him. He was as tense as always when she first pulled herself to him, but soon she could feel whatever amount of his guard had remain upon wakening come crashing down. She figured he might have only reached his room before everything came undone within him had she not stopped him.

Slowly, she felt his arms wrap around her, pulling her in closer than before as he buried his entire face into her chest, using her as a vessel to ground himself in. His shaking returned and she could feel hot tears being absorbed into her nightgown. She didn't say anything for a while. Nothing like 'it's alright' would work for him. Maybe things were better now, but who knew what it might have been like when the nightmare was inspired by a real event?

All she could do for him was be the support to tie him back into reality.

She waited for a while, noticing his uneven breaths were finally beginning to regulate and his shaking decreased, before whispering familiar lyrics to the Saiyan.

She wasn't sure if she was pronouncing them right or even if the tune was spot on, but she mimicked the song he would sing to her when she was too shaken to sleep. She repeated the song over and over and over again until she knew for sure he was asleep again. His grip had loosened through the song and now she rested gently in his arms, his face as no longer fully buried in her chest, and for the first time she realized his light snores sounded like breathy purring. In fact, she realized that this was probably one of the few times she had seen him fully asleep.

Bulma smiled, treasuring the moment before she too closed her eyes and drifted off, wondering how many rules Ze-Azel must have broken in order to pull a stunt like she had. There was no other way she should have woken, so it had to have been the real Ze-Azel, herself.

* * *

He laid there on his side watching her. He blinked once or twice just to make sure he was really seeing what he thought he was seeing, but sure enough, there was the Onna. He had only woken up moments ago and yet had found the energy to get up. He had been utterly confused until he remembered what had occurred the night before.

He couldn't believe that all the times to have _that_ nightmare, it was when he was lying in the woman's bed unannounced and uninvited. Frieza had a lot of ways of making himself remembered, even if one of his former slaves found their way to freedom, but his favorite way was through their own mind.

He had only been six and he still couldn't forget. Nappa and the others had been away on a long mission and no one thought the wiser. That was when they still thought Vegeta-sei was destroyed by a bunch of astroids. That was their first and last mistake since then, but once was enough for the purple and white lizard demon-spawn to burn himself into Vegeta's memory.

He still couldn't keep composure after that nightmare and he ended up _crying_ into the woman's chest and clinging to her as it she was his only lifeline. That's what his pillows were for! (they had other purposes, but Vegeta refused to believe he kept them for such stupid reasons.)

Finally, he decided it was time to get up. Hopefully she thought last night a dream (fat chance) if he was gone before she woke. Pulling away and sneaking across her room was easily done. He went back into his room, showering quickly and putting something on that was similar to the way she dressed him yesterday. If she didn't like it, she would just need to drag him back to redress.

After taking care of a few of his morning chores, Vegeta finally headed into the kitchen, knowing full well that whenever he was hungry, that blonde woman would have sensed it somehow and prepared him food. Once again, he was right.

"Good morning Vegeta," Bunny said in her usual upbeat tone, flipping a pancake, "I got your breakfast all ready to eat, so dig in and eat till you're filled. I love cooking for you, you know? You just are a treasure."

If he hadn't figured out that was just the way she spoke, he would have shivered. She put some of the strangest remarks into her speech patterns. He looked over the food once before digging in. It was halfway though the meal that they had unexpected company –well, he thought it was unexpected, but the Onna's dame looked like she wasn't surprised at all.

"Morning!" A chime of a voice called out from the back door the kitchen had.

Vegeta turned to see which of the hundred or so relatives it was. Brown hair with naturally highlighted blonde streaked through it and amazing hazel colored eyes that made her existence stick out even further. Small, but well shaped and a bit of muscle tone. As much ki as the Onna. Vegeta returned to his food once he knew her not a threat.

The blonde turned and gave a small sound of joy upon laying eyes on the hazel eyed woman, "OooOoo, Sparrow-chan! You're here! I didn't think you'd be coming this year!"

"And why wouldn't I?" She asked back, letting out a little laugh, "I live not even thirty minutes from here! I mean, yeah, I married a few months ago, it's not like I'm dead Aunt Bunny."

"But you should be spending quality time with your new hubby," the blonde argued, scolding the young adult with a spatula, "Not wasting it with coming in early. Why are you early?"

"To help with the cooking!" The Sparrow woman said before casting a glance at Vegeta, who had begun to clear off the plates, "I thought you had enough until I realized he was eating it all." She smiled playfully before sending him a teasing "Save some for the others!"

He humphed, continuing his eating. Humans were strange, strange creatures. He thought that they were all like the weakling, but the Onna's relatives made him wonder about his first assessment. Sparrow almost laughed at how much Vegeta was putting away. She knew her husband could consume a lot, but this man ate much more!

"Oh leave Vegeta-kun alone," Bunny dismissed, turning back to her work, "I made him his breakfast early because I know he's not aloud to eat like he wants when everyone else is around. Right Vegeta? Bulma-chan has you watching what you eat around the family."

Vegeta didn't answer, not that she expected him to. She smiled and beckoned Sparrow closer, "Oh don't mind him. He's a treasure."

Sparrow could hear him choke on one of his large mouthfuls of food before managing to swallow the food and grumble something in a foreign language.

"Now you came to help cook, did you not?" Bunny said, pulling Sparrow's attention back at the task at hand. "And where is this husband that you claimed to have married?"

She laughed, "He's still sleeping. He was working all day yesterday and today and tomorrow are really his only times off. He'll be here in time to meet the family. Though I am kinda worried how everyone is going to take to him, knowing our family, he'll be scarred for life when Aunty Panty sets her sites on him."

Sparrow didn't miss the way Vegeta suddenly shivered at the mention of her Aunt on her mother's side. She withheld all laughter though, knowing it was not something to laugh at no matter how funny it was. Especially when the person was still a complete stranger. She wondered slightly when Bulma was getting up.

* * *

She knew not to expect to wake up with him still in the bed. He was never one to stay long, especially after an incident like the one last night. She just hoped he would talk to her today or even any time in the near future. He was not one who took to opening up well, no doubt he would be mortified of having used her as a form of comfort.

She could only guess he was beating himself up over his 'moment of weakness', but Bulma could care less. She was happy she was able to provide support like he had done for her for the past few weeks now. Getting on her feet, she headed straight for her bathroom and readied herself for a loooooong day with her family and possible a headache with her family during dinner and present time.

After dressing according to the season and occasion, she took one last look at herself and decided that she could knock any man off his feet, hopefully a certain Saiyan. With one pleasant smile and a small giggle, she headed down to see if her mother was almost done with the family breakfast. Her mother always insisted on at least making breakfast and with Vegeta's appetite, it was a good idea. Bulma quickly reminded herself to make sure Vegeta found his spot at the dining table and there was no confusion. Kami knows they didn't need him blowing a gasket.

When she finally got downstairs to the kitchen, her eyes first landed on Vegeta. He was wearing another vest with another shirt that was still festive colored. He must have been paying attention to the colors everyone else was wearing yesterday and dressed accordingly. She would help him tomorrow for the more formal wear of Christmas though. His eyes met hers for a second before he turned back to the tail end of his food.

Bulma smiled before her eyes glanced over to her mother and was surprised to see her cousin there: Sparrow. Like Bulma, Sparrow was born of both a Brief and an Usagi. Her mother's name was Silk and her father's name was Falcon. But unlike Bulma who was an only child and a complete genius, Sparrow had two sister and three brothers: Hawk, Quail, Eagle, Robin, and Jay. Her family were on the smart side like all her relatives, but they were each different, all sweethearts though. Sparrow was the sweetest through.

"Sparrow! I thought you went and got married!" Bulma shouted, remembering the notice they had received sometime around her pregnancy, "Why are you here?"

Tradition was that you kept the new spouse away from the family the first year so the family didn't spook them off… Yeah, they were that eccentric.

"Because I want to be," Sparrow said with a roll of her eyes, "And my husband is not going to run from a few eccentric people. First off, his job makes him work with thousands of rich eccentric people and secondly, he's one himself so he can't judge."

Bulma smiled at the way her cousin waved her borrowed spatula at her, it made her feel five years younger. She smiled as she took a seat next to Vegeta, who was refusing to acknowledge her at the moment as he tried to get out of there with an almost full stomach, and continued to chat with her cousin.

"So, where is he? We heard you got married in a little chapel with just your immediate family and you forgot to put his family and his name on the card, dumbbell."

"I did not forget," Sparrow smiled slyly, "I planned to introduce him properly. Now enough about me, what about you? Or your 'house guest' for that matter? No one here knows squat about him and they are beginning to make things up themselves."

"How would you know? You just got here!"

"Robin, Jay, Quail, _and _Eagle called about him shutting up Lace."

"Who?" Vegeta asked, scrunching up his face. Where the hell did they get these names?

"Lace, Lingerie's daughter." Sparrow replied, "The spoiled brat that uses her family's status to sleep with any guy she wants."

"Ah, the whore," Vegeta recognized, going back to sipping his coffee.

He hid his smile as he drank. Usually the Onna would have yelled at him for calling her family something so rude, but instead both her and Sparrow cracked up. Bunny too was trying to hide her smile as she cooked. Wow, she must be really bad.

"Yes, her," Sparrow finally said, "So you did shut her up. Congratulations, you are the only one who has." She turned back to looking at Bulma, "So, you guys dating or something?"

If Vegeta was less of a warrior, he might have spit out his coffee on that one.

"Or something," Bulma released to her cousin, glancing at Vegeta to make sure he was good with the answer.

Bunny had decided to make a retreat to the dining area to 'check out the setting'. She was just giving them privacy or keeping her big mouth shut. She might blab some things, but she was by no means an idiot. She knew when to be around, when to say something, and when it was simply best to play the blonde everyone thought she was.

"Would he have been the daddy?" Sparrow asked again, stopping to her work to check.

Bulma paused, not sure how to continue. Vegeta had told her that he would never play a role in his son's life and it would have been best if his son never knew about his relation to Vegeta in so many words. So after disclaiming his title as 'father of the child' she wasn't sure what the answer was.

"Yes," was the gruff answer of the person next to her, "The boy would have been my son."

Bulma looked over at Vegeta with shock. Not only did he answer to question, but also it wasn't the answer she ever thought that she would hear. He had just claimed the child as 'his'. He did care for the boy after all, or at least regretted his arrangement. Sparrow went back to cooking, putting her nose in their business once more.

"So, are you two going to try again?"

Another answer she didn't know, but apparently Vegeta knew.

"One day, perhaps," Vegeta answered, going back to sipping his coffee.

Bulma grabbed something off of his plate and quickly stuffed it in her mouth, trying hard not to smile like a moron while Sparrow was around. Vegeta already looked flustered enough, it wouldn't do to get him agitated at her for looking like a ditz.

"Oh," Sparrow said with a smile, "Then I will be keeping my eyes out for anything coming in the mail."

With that she went back to cooking. Bulma could see that Vegeta was embarrassed, but he wasn't one to look like a fool in front of anyone. She didn't know if he had just said it to save face for both of them, but she was now able to ask about it in private. She hoped everything else today would get over with quickly.

A quick knock on the backdoor had everyone's attention as the doorknob turned.

"Sorry I'm late, I didn't think you would sneak out of bed to give me more time to sleep," an oh so familiar voice said at the door, "Nor did I think that I would be coming back here so soon."

"YOU!" Vegeta snarled, standing up and pointing at the figure at the door, his tail out and slashing the air in fury.

"Oh great, he can move."

"Genki!" Bulma shouted in shock as the Seiyen lounged at the threshold of the door, his own tail swishing about pleasantly, "You married Sparrow!"

"Oh, _he's_ the Saiyan. Well that explains a lot."

"Does anybody want tea?" Bunny asked, coming into the room just as the tension grew thick.

Vegeta was chasing Genki out the door in a matter of seconds and Genki took off to keep from capture. Sparrow grinned at what she thought was just playfulness and Bulma sighed heavily, hoping Vegeta eventually gave up (fat chance) or Genki soothed the anger of the Saiyan somehow.

Nope. Bulma sighed as she realized it: Today was going to be rather long.

* * *

Bulma plopped down on her bed. Everyone was slowly leaving for the Christmas Eve festivities and she could not be any more thankful than she already was. After Vegeta and Genki stopped playing their little game of chase, they came back inside. Both on edge with each other, but there was an apparent truce. Genki kept snickering about something though and each time received a death glare from Vegeta for some reason.

Breakfast came and both aliens ate. Bulma was a little miffed he had eaten as much as he did in front of her relatives, but his breakfast had been interrupted by Genki so he never had finished. He sat next to her, not looking at her much to her chagrin, and behaved around her family.

Until it was time to sit down for lunch, none of her cousins around her age could stop pestering him with questions about himself and such. They were interested in who shut Lace up. Genki was off being surrounded by the Brothers and Sisters of Sparrow's parents, learning about whom their niece had married. He took to it better than Vegeta did, but then again, Genki was one for the spotlight. He had been in it enough as a young adult. So the two of them didn't have time to talk or fight since they were kept busy with meeting everyone.

After lunch, to Bulma's horror, the groups switched and then Vegeta was under the poking and prodding of her Aunts and Uncles. She was surprised he took it so well (especially since a few of them couldn't keep their hands to themselves). He had expert control and repeated the same story he had given the cousins. Even Aunt Lingerie and her husband liked him (though for different reasons than his personality). Vegeta had dismissed himself after another two hours of being under the microscope. Bulma couldn't blame him. He was not social and he was probably feeling really insecure the more they talked to him. After all, he hadn't left her side since after Christmas Eve Breakfast.

Now everyone was leaving, so Bulma had gone upstairs as well to catch a quick nap. It wouldn't be long till her mother had dinner ready and it was time to start opening presents. She was a little nervous, but her need for a nap outweighed her nervousness. She just hoped he liked his present.

* * *

"So, you got grilled too."

"Shut up."

Vegeta glared at the man who refused to leave him alone now that Bulma and his mate were gone. The Sparrow woman was currently off saying hello to somebody and left her annoying mongrel mate alone, which in turn meant he decided to bug him.

"Oh come on Vegeta," the mongrel prince said, rolling his eyes at the unfriendliness he was receiving, "We've known each other for years. Do you always have to be a sour puss?"

"We might have known each other since before I could articulate my extreme hatred of you, but that doesn't mean that since you gave me back my honor that we'll ever be _friends_." The last word was hissed venomously.

There was a long pause as Genki stared at Vegeta in a bored stare. He had learned at a tender age to never take Vegeta to heart when he was trying to be mean. He just was prideful.

"How did Bulma-chan end up with you?" He asked with a shake of the head, "I mean, don't get me wrong, you're better than most the guys she's dated, but you? I didn't think you were the relationship type."

"I'm not." Vegeta huffed, "She was the one who came onto me."

Genki smiled, "She does that. Had to when she was younger, you know. First, in high school, nobody wanted to touch a thirteen year old senior, then nobody wanted to date a fifteen year old genius in college, and then she finally found someone- but he were terrified of girls." Genki sighed, "If she wasn't the one usually pushing the relationship, she'd get no where. I was the only one who ever dated her before she became 'Bachelorette of the Year'. Well, Yamcha and I, at least."

Vegeta's attention snapped onto Genki, "_You_ dated her?"

Genki hid his smile the best he could. Was that jealousy in the Saiyan Prince's voice? Apparently the prince didn't know about her other potential mates other than Yamcha. He decided to enlighten Vegeta to the current situation on hand.

"Yes, and we were meant to stay friends," Genki nodded, "She's spunky, but she needs more than what I had to offer. My job keeps me around a lot of women and I had to have someone who understood that and knew that they were the only one to ever catch my eye. Bulma-chan is insecure about that, you know? Ever since she became 21, people have been after her for her money, status, and looks. She's the perfect trophy wife for some of those sick men out there. So… she's given up on finding someone who will marry her just because they love her and wish to keep her just for her and not her status, money, and looks. But I know my dear Bulma-chan, she might have said she's given up, but she's a hopeless romantic. She still dreams of it." He looked up to see his mate approaching and decided to make his exit, "Ah, there's the wife," Genki turned and smiled at Vegeta, "Good luck with the gift. I hope she takes it well. Later Vegeta."

With that, Genki made his way over to his mate and left Vegeta alone in his thoughts.

* * *

So, the female was insecure? Could have fooled him. The striped tailed mongrel was right though, the woman was extremely cautious about relationships. Ever since the stupid board of her company started pushing for an heir, he had been caught in the middle since she refused to settle with someone and get married. She said she just wanted the kid, she didn't want to get married… but was that a lie? Or did she just not think there was anyone out there who wished to marry her.

Oh, Vegeta knew about this marriage ordeal. The blonde couldn't shut up about it one day when she was watching something about a bridezilla? Vegeta didn't bother to remember, but the jest that stayed with him was that it was like the courtship of a Royal. The only difference was the ceremony of vows. Saiyans Royalty danced, humans stood in a chapel making vows.

Wait a minute. Why was he even thinking about this? He wasn't going to ask her to marry him! He growled to himself as he stood up and marched away to finally go get her gift. He didn't even know _why_ he had decided to get her one. He asked himself at least twice a day and on occasion three times a day about why he had even bothered.

He knew why. He just wasn't ready to accept it quite yet.

He huffed, getting up from his spot and disappearing upstairs. The only reason he had stopped chasing Genki was because the little dipwad figured out what he had gotten for her. He paused when he passed her door, noticing her snoozing lightly on her bed. He smirked. He might as well give her half now and half later after she thought that was all she was getting. He almost scoffed at himself. How soft of him to want to see that smile on her face.

Slowly he walked past her room, going into an area that was almost completely abandoned since there was only three members of the household other than himself. He liked to sit in the study of this wing sometimes and read when he was restless at night and too sore or wounded to go right back into training.

He retrieved part of her gift, holding it gently as to not break it, but far enough away that it didn't leave anything on him. He slowly entered her room, shutting the door just in case and plopped the present on the bed. He rested his hand against her backboard and watched as everything played out in front of him. He knew this might be a fun reaction.

* * *

Bulma had just been taking a small nap, nothing too long, but long enough so when she came back down all that was sitting around the dinner table next to the personal Christmas tree would be Vegeta and her parents. Her relatives all had their own private moments with their own immediate family and that was okay with her small family. She liked it too. It felt more personable than just another party they had to host.

She was half conscious, that was how she described the state. She was still sleeping, but her mind was aware of the senses. She had heard and registered her door shut, but she had not woken from it. Footsteps that were heavy but quiet, so it had to be Vegeta, and something that wriggled. Her face scrunched. What was wiggling on her bed? It almost made her want to fully wake up and open her eyes.

Slowly she felt little feet walking up to her face and was about to open her eyes when she felt a cold wet something on her cheek.

"Wha?" Bulma asked groggily as she wiped her face and opened a bleary eye.

What in the world had that been. The answer? A cute white Kishu puppy wagging its tail and looking at her with complete adoration.

Bulma immediately lit up. "Hey there," she cooed, scooping the puppy up with one hand and using the other to position her in a sitting position on her bed, "What are you doing here?"

The puppy just gave a small whimper of joy and licked under her chin, its curled tail wagging feverously. She giggled as she tried to figure out why there was a puppy in her room. She looked up to see Vegeta watching her with a smirk. Finally, the dots connected.

"It's mine?" She guessed, flipping the puppy quickly to tell the gender, still shocked at the idea that Vegeta might have gotten a puppy for her for Christmas. "He's mine?"

"No," Vegeta rolled his eyes and gave her a playful smirk, "I decided to buy it for the stripped tailed mongrel. Of course, you idiot, he's yours."

Bulma started to laugh unbelieving, "You got me a puppy?"

Vegeta nodded, watching as the little furball wiggled happily in her hands, "You're the one who was cooing it at the store."

Bulma didn't miss the way he blushed lightly. He probably had never given a gift before and since open displays of affection such as this one were not his thing. Yet, anyways. He had a feeling he was going to end up spoiling the woman rotten.

"You bought a puppy." Bulma said still trying to absorb that fact.

"Is it really hard to believe I understand the concept of money? You're sire did go through the explanation of purchasing and such when he opened my bank account. I never thought he would shut up."

That was right. Vegeta didn't usually buy things, but he did have his own money. He was probably richer than her board of directors, but still poor in contrast to her. But the fact was, he had bought her a Christmas present! She never expected one. Okay, maybe she fantasized about it, but never did she think he would actually get her something.

"Thank you," Bulma said with a bright smile, tears welling up in her eyes.

Vegeta didn't like the tears he could foresee coming, "Why are you crying?"

"Because," she sniffled, cuddling the puppy close, "I really, really love him. He makes me happy. You make me happy. I love the gift, thank you Vegeta."

She knew tears made Vegeta nervous, so she used the soft fur of the puppy to dry them and she buried her face into the little thing's back. She peaked from behind the puppy's fur to see that she had been right and Vegeta was fidgeting nervously as he watched her, a little lost on what to do, so she got up, still not letting go of the puppy, walked over to him, and hugged him.

"Thank you." She whispered as she buried her face into his chest, inhaling his scent as she did so.

Soon she felt his hand rest on her dip of her back and the other pulling the puppy out from where she was awkwardly crushing it to him. She heard him take a deep breath and sigh.

"Stop that, Onna," he finally said, "I can't have you looking like I made you cry, not when we have yet to eat with your parents."

"Right," Bulma said with a smile, pulling away and brushing the last of the tears away, "I'm better."

"I hope so," Vegeta grumbled, putting the puppy back in her arms, "and don't go spoiling the thing either. I am not about to put up with your annoying self and your animal alter-ego both."

"Then you train him," Bulma said with a small huff, pulling the puppy up to look at him, "I'll share him with you."

"I don't want a mongrel." Vegeta said, "If I did, I would prefer the stripped tailed mongrel that's now your cousin rather than a un-housed broken mutt."

Bulma grinned, cuddling the puppy close and heading out the door, Vegeta following her. Her relatives should be gone by now and it should be safe to go down to eat.

"Come on, we'll both take care of Tsukiyo!"

"You're naming a white mongrel that?"

"What's wrong with it? I think it makes him sound cool," Bulma pouted. "Moonlit night, I like that name."

"Something is definitely wrong with you," Vegeta groaned, pushing forward and heading towards his dinner.

He was starving after the little food he was given for lunch.

"Hey, Vegeta! What does that mean! Vegeta!"

The blue haired heiress gave chase with Tsukiyo in hand.

* * *

Dinner was pleasant. Bulma couldn't help but grin at her parents' reaction to little Tsukiyo. Both seemed very pleased and Vegeta looked embarrassed by the sudden attention he received for being thoughtful enough to get her a present. Her mother even teased him about her and her husband's present, which didn't exist since Vegeta was still learning to be thoughtful.

Her mother must have whispered something to Vegeta, because his face lit up and his tail quickly wrapped around his waist. He even snatched the puppy that romped about the room and held him for a while as a way to calm down. Or so Bulma thought. He ruled in his expression rather quickly, but she could tell that whatever her mother had said left him flustered.

Finally, sitting around the Christmas tree, all of them were finally comfortable after going to the bathroom and grabbing last minute packages. Vegeta looked at her few gift for him with caution. He wasn't sure if they would attack (though he really hoped they did that might be fun!).

"Okay," Bulma said, after calling her little puppy over to her and setting him on her lap, "Let's get the show on the road!"

So, they did. Bunny and Teddy went first, opening all their gifts. They went one at a time so everyone just took one long turn and that was that. There was only four of them, so it never took long. Next was Bulma.

"Cause I think that box is running away," her father chuckled pointing to a box that somehow got to the threshold of the door…

Or had Vegeta put it there when no one was looking. Bulma looked at him suspiciously from her spot on the couch and his gave her an unreadable look and shrugged.

"It's not for me, not my problem," he told her gruffly.

She dropped the puppy into his lap, getting a low warning growl about it, before walking up to the box. She picked it up, noticing how the weight in the box constantly shifted and sat down. She blinked when she noticed the holes in the unwrapped box that already had a Christmas design on it.

She looked at Vegeta in confusion, but he was more interested in the puppy that was trying to lick his face off. She looked at her parents, but they both just shrugged. It wasn't from them. Slowly, she untied the ribbon from the top and 'pop' the top came off on its own accord.

Or should she say on the accord of the black Kai Ken puppy in the box. She stared at in shock, smiling at the cute thing crawling out of the box and trying to snuggle into her chest, glancing at the person responsible. Nope, still too interested in the Kishu to look up at her.

"Two?" Bulma asked incrediously, not that she wasn't happy.

"Shut up and name the mongrel," Vegeta grumbled, moving the box off her lap so the puppy had more room.

"Asahi." She said after giving the little boy puppy a quick check.

"Morning sun," Vegeta looked at her, rolling his eyes, "There is something wrong with you."

"Why," she giggled.

"You named the things the wrong names. If anything I would think you're doing it on…" She smiled mischievously when he figured it out "…purpose…" He glared at her a moment before muttering, "Shut up, just open your blasted gifts already."

She nodded, grabbing the nearest present that happened to be from her mother. Let's just say that she wasn't as happy as she had been with the puppies.

"Mom," Bulma chocked, trying hard not to lose her temper or die of embarrassment, "When you said you went to London and got me presents while you were there… I thought that you had bought a dress or something… not... not lingerie."

If the few strands of transparent cloth and lace could be called that. She was so mortified, she didn't dare look at Vegeta. The heat he was suddenly emitting was proof enough that either he was totally mortified himself or very angry or both.

"I thought you might want something you could enjoy more than just a dress," Bunny said, giving her daughter an airy smile, but by no means was that dumb.

That blonde woman was a mastermind. Vegeta and Bulma were sure to lock their doors for a while, lest they find themselves in a very compromising situation. Then again, she did know how to pick locks…

At least her father's gift wasn't as mortifying. Just the new set of tools she had been drooling over since she had seen them.

Finally, it was Vegeta's turn. After a quick glance that the clothes that the woman's dame had bought him and a nod of thanks to her sire for the equipment, he finally had her present in his hands. Well one of them at least. Both Mr. and Mrs. Briefs quickly said a goodnight, knowing when to leave the two alone.

"Now, if you don't like it…" Bulma faltered, "Then… I'm sorry."

Suddenly, it was she who found the puppies really interesting.

Vegeta looked curiously at the cylinder holder of his present. He carefully opened the lid and discovered a rolled up painting. He never once looked anywhere but the canvas as he slowly unrolled it. There, from the blurs of his memory, was a figure of his past. He had forgotten her. Not anything about her personality or her words of wisdom or lullabies and songs, but her looks… her face… those eyes… that expression… his mother. They had faded with time.

He didn't know why, but his breath was caught in his throat. He felt the burn of his chest and the pain of his heart just staring at this picture of a woman that had not only give him life, but a love that was gentle and forgiving in a harsh life that had been his.

He hadn't even noticed Bulma shifting, until something was set on his lap, "There are a lot of her in these too… I don't know why, I just see her a lot. More than anybody else."

He didn't even know that he had been crying until he felt her cool hands rest on his face, using her thumbs to wipe them away.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, getting teary herself, "I knew that it was a harsh subject for you and I know that you probably hurt seeing the picture, but I thought that maybe you would want it cause its apart of who you are and you seemed to speak fondly of her so I thought that you loved her very much-"

He cut her rambling off when he pressed his lips against hers. Grabbing her and pulling her to his lap and hugging her. His gifts were on the seat next to him already wrapped back up safely and the puppies on the ground watching curiously at their new masters.

"It's fine," He finally allowed, his throat no longer constricted, "I had forgotten is all." He inhaled deeply before exhaling words he didn't use very often, "_Thank you"_.

He would look through the other stuff later, but right now, he was feeling things he hadn't felt in a long time. Happiness, joy, sorrow, grief, guilt, and undying appreciation.

That heart of his kept beating more and more he was around this little woman. It scared him, but perhaps… it wasn't all that bad like he had once thought.

"You're welcome," the woman said, sniffling a bit as she did, "Just watch out, there were a couple pictures with you in them. You had an adorable butt for a baby. And you were pudgy too, very cute."

"Ouch! Hey! Vegeta!" Bulma yelled, pulling herself off the floor and chasing after his stomping retreat, "You don't just drop people on the floor! Come back here! Vegeta!"

And puppies came following after their very strange owners.


	14. Chapter 14

Hey everyone!

Thank The nevermore for beta-ing this chapter. I hope that you guys can help me with the feedback. I don't know about this chapter. I am trying to write out their relationship, so yes, there is a lot of them thinking about what they have. I need your feedback. I need to know if you felt that it is alright or if it doesn't tie in well. I know. They are having christmas in their story and I am posting this in july. What am I thinking? Really? I don't know.

Yeah, I don't change much on my author's notes, but if your anything like me, you only read the last one, hoping to see if they mentioned if they are going to be gone for a while or dead or even posting in the next few hours or maybe giving away hints to next chapter. This chapter is totally about Vegeta. Bulma isn't in it much, but all of the chapter revolves around Vegeta.

I really hope you'll enjoy.

* * *

**_The Setting Sun_**

Chapter 14

_Christmas wasn't Really what I Thought it Would be Like_

* * *

**Disclaimer: will never own DBZ... but if I did... muwahahahahahahaha... and more Vegeta and Bulma.**

* * *

Poke. Poke, poke…

Growling.

…poke.

Silence. Retreating footsteps. More silence.

The sounds of the clean sheets moving under shifting his weight.

Footsteps again. Getting louder.

The sound of several heartbeats.

"Gah! Woman!" Vegeta shouted as he started slightly at the cold sensation of two cold, wet noses in his underarms.

Giggling, "Morning Vegeta. It's Christmas! Merry Christmas!"

Glare.

Cheery smile.

"Go away."

With that he pulled the covers over his head and buried his face under a pillow. He was just glad the puppies he had bought her weren't as loud as their mistress. The man who sold him the puppies had said something along the lines of the breeds not being big on barking. They preferred to stalk their prey rather than bark.

"Hey! Aren't you going to say 'Merry Christmas' back? What's the matter?" he could still hear her even when his head was buried.

He was tired and his head was pounding. He wanted nothing more than to just stay there and skip day two of his torture. If he had to be scrutinized any further, he might need to go kill something or commit genocide to calm down. He wasn't good at this. He just wanted things to go back to normal. Just him, the woman, and her annoying parents. When was it just going to be them again?

He was reaching his limit and he knew it.

"Leave me alone, Onna." He tried again.

He could feel her staring at him for a moment before he heard her retreating footsteps. He would have thought her gone for good if she had not set the puppies on the ground. He sighed; at least she didn't leave them on his bed. She might get mad if he shoved them off.

Soon he heard her re-enter the room, making her way back to him and tugging the blankets as to get them out of his strong grip. Somehow she coaxed them from his fingers and she managed to get to where she wanted. Gently she lifted one of his heavy limbs slightly and placed something in his underarm for a moment or so, pulling it out when it made a beep.

"You don't have a temperature," She said after a moment, a little confused, "what's the matter, 'Geta?"

She was checking to see if he was sick? How pathetic was he to her? Like he would get sick suddenly and without reason. Though he did feel like he had a knot in his stomach and his tail felt sweaty and limp and his head felt like it was trying to implode. He didn't know why he felt terrible, but he did. The very thought of having to repeat yesterday made him feel unwell.

But he wasn't going to admit such weakness to her, so he blew her off by pulling up the covers again, signifying he wasn't in the mood to tell her. He couldn't believe he was acting like this, but he refused to be around anymore grabby hands of her relatives or the stares and unwanted attention.

"Vegeta," that blasted woman pressed on, "either you tell me now, or you'll be sorry."

"Screw off and take your mongrels with you."

He heard her choke on air in shock before huffing at him angrily and picking up her mutts and leaving once again. _Finally_, he thought. _She's leaving me in peace._

Oh how wrong he was.

He should have known she was too stubborn to just give up like that. She was coming back. He heard her footsteps coming towards his door, but it was too late when he realized the second silent set and the suppressed ki. His covers had been ripped off and he had already been disabled. He snarled at his nemesis as he tsked at him.

"Not feeling well I hear," Genki said, stooping low as to check out Vegeta's vitals after positioning him on his back and his head on top of the pillow instead of smothered under it.

"You called _him_?"

"Like I'm taking a screw off as an 'everything's fine'." Bulma shot back, "Just tell me what's the matter and I'll leave you alone!"

"Do you not understand the meaning of screw off?" Vegeta snarled back at her before turning his attention to Genki, "Stop prodding at me, you strip tailed freak."

"He's just stressed." Genki shrugged, "It's probably making his stomach upset since his ki is pulling itself into that particular location. He'll probably have a tummy ache till he calms down a bit and takes a long nap. His body seems fatigued. Too much going on right now socially probably."

He quickly checked Vegeta's tail before pulling away, touching the points in Vegeta's back and allowing him movement again. Unlike the last time, he did not touch the other male's tail, since it was a taboo. Last time was an exception that still never went over well with the other party.

"Yeah. He's just stressed. And if I am reading his ki right, I think he has something close to the beginnings of a migraine. Best to leave him here while the chaos ensues this morning. I'm going down now, but make sure he eats something. I doubt he will willingly do anything social today." Genki said, barely missing the swipe that Vegeta took at him, "I'm going to be leaving now. Good luck placating the grumpy Saiyan."

"Thanks Genki," Bulma nodded, opening the door and letting the Seiyen out before shutting the door again to keep her puppies in.

Vegeta had already thrown the covers back over him and buried his head again under his pillow. Bulma sighed.

Vegeta could still hear her, even though his head was pounding and found her listening to her movements mind-numbing. It didn't hurt as much if he just tracked her rummaging through his room. He could hear her turn the blinds so the room was darkened; the lights were all turned off save the hum of the bathroom fan that turned on when the lights were on.

Rushing water, something large being filled, the sound of rummaging, a glass being fill, faucet turned off, and the door moved to barely let the light shine through and the sound of the fan dimmed greatly.

Again, she was tugging at his covers and again he obliged her wishes and let the go.

"Vegeta," she whispered, tugging at the pillow that he was using to muffle everything, "I need you to sit up for a minute."

Her cool hand snuck under the pillow and onto his throbbing head. It felt wonderful at the moment, giving him a light reprieve of the intensity of his migraine. He gave it another moment before pulling himself up. The room wasn't bright, it felt better than before when the sun had been peaking in through the windows. The faint light from his bathroom was the only source of light and she was using it to see. He looked up at her, making eye contact before she moved.

"Here," she whispered, setting the water in the glass gently on his bedside table and the bowl with a washcloth soaking in it and pulling two pills out of her pocket, "These will help."

He didn't deny her went she put them into his hand. He swallowed them and took the glass of water from Bulma's hand when she offered it to him. He lied back down, not feeling too great to be sitting up. The longer he did, the dizzier he felt. His eyes closed, but he could hear her wringing the water from the cloth before resting it on his head.

"Just go back to sleep. I'll bring you something to eat later, okay?"

"I'm not a child you have to take care of," Vegeta grumbled as he turned slightly so she could not see the relief in his features over the cool cloth on his head.

"I know, but knowing you, you would have just laid there in agony instead of searching for medicine or food." Bulma said with a light laugh, still whispering, "I'll tell everyone to leave you alone. Come down if you feel better, okay?"

"Hn," was all he said before he began to drift off.

Those pills were faster acting than he thought. Soon, he didn't even hear the footsteps of Bulma or her puppies.

* * *

_"Again," came the commanding voice of his father._

_He shifted himself to a position that allowed him to stand. He tried to take position, but his father was already at him, using enough force to send him spiraling into the wall then straight into the ground. He could hear the command to yet again stand, so he did. He waited for the punch, kick, or whatever his father would use next, but it never came._

_Instead, his mother was in a position that threatened his father's usually flawless form._

_"Step off," she snarled, irises dilating into slits, "You have done enough Vegeta."_

_"What makes you think _that_?" He snarled back, pulling him to full height to tower above his small mate._

_"He is learning nothing," she gestured to him, the small child barely standing, "Kicking him about teaches him nothing, Vegeta. You need to treat him like a student or perhaps even as your _son_ and not the heir to the throne. Or maybe as the heir to the throne if you would at least teach him then."_

_Her requests just made him growl louder than he had been at his own son's mistakes._

_"Fine, you seem to have an inkling of what should be done, you train the whelp." He scoffed._

_She ground her teeth; giving him the fiercest glare young Vegeta had ever seen before spitting out, "Fine! I will! You are a lousy teacher anyway! Vegeta!" She was calling to him, he could tell by the tone._

_Immediately he was standing at attention as his mother gave him her full attention. Anger was still highlighted in her eyes, but perhaps that was because she was yet finished with his sire. The man would no doubt get it later and where it hurt him the most. Pregnant Saiyan females were not very keen on letting males keep their manhood if ticked off during gestation since they already received the brat that had been desired._

_"Yes, your majesty," young Vegeta asked, knowing the words would placate her anger towards him._

_"Your stupid sire is nothing but a moron. I will be taking over your training and I shall hear no complaints about it from either parties." A glare at her mate to remind him that he no longer was allowed to offer training sessions to their son whatsoever._

_He said nothing as his young look alike nodded and followed his mother's fast strides out of the room his father used to train in. He could hear his sire throwing a minor fit, but the noise dimmed as his mother led on. Soon they were outside in the gardens, his mother searching for something as they wandered._

_Finally she discovered what she was looking for and made Vegeta sit, which he was grateful for because he was not sure how much longer he could stand. She picked him up, placing him in her lap, which was not yet overcrowded by her growing belly. Vegeta was still unsure about his little brother his father and mother kept telling him about._

_"Okay Vegeta," his mother started putting something in his hands, "What is this? Describe it well."_

_Vegeta looked down, examining the thing that dirtied his gloves, "It's a rock. A plain, old ugly, lumpy, dirty rock. There's nothing about it that's even remotely interesting. It's stupid."_

_His mother chuckled taking the rock into her hands, "Alright. So now we are going to speak metaphorically. This rock is you."_

_She enjoyed the upset look her three year old was giving her, "Me? I'm not a stupid rock like this one!"_

_His mother tsked at him, shaking her head as she looked at him with a smile, "You are like this rock, Vegeta. Uncut, not polished, not clean, and not even something someone wants to look at. But," She interjected before she crushed all his dreams, "You don't have to remain that way."_

_"I can be another rock?" Vegeta asked hopefully._

_"No, you can never stop being this rock. This rock will forever be you, but," She tossed the rock into the stream that was placed in the castle garden, "We can wash you, or teach you." She picked it up and now the rock was wet, but no longer dirty. His mother dried it with her ki. Now it was just a rock._

_"And we can start cutting away at the unrefined parts, training you to be confident and wise in everything you do." She started to cut away at the rock, using her ki again to slice off the ugly parts of the one ordinary rock. She smiled when Vegeta noticed the rock wasn't just a plain old rock. The inside held color._

_"And we can polish you, help you master what you should know so that you shine and stand out from the rest," Finally, she used her ki to polish the rock. Vegeta wasn't sure how she learned such a cool trick, but in the end, his stupid dumb old rock was now a gem, cut and polished, and shining in the sunlight._

_"This rock is me?" Vegeta questioned again, taking the gem into his hands._

_"You'll be just like this rock once we work on your lessons and forms and such. Don't ever doubt potential when it is in its earliest stages, or you might never see if there is a gem inside waiting to be cleaned, cut, and polished." With that, she pulled him into her hold and stood up after a moment of gaining her balance._

_Vegeta was positioned so he was resting his weight on her hip as he eyed her tummy nervously._

_"Are you scared?" His mother asked, noticing how he never liked to touch her tummy._

_"No," came her little boy's reply, a scowl in his features matching his father's so very well._

_"Do you not like the idea of me having another child?"_

_"No."_

_"Are you afraid you'll hurt me?"_

_She noticed Vegeta biting his lip and his tail swishing nervously, "I did the last time."_

_Her majesty sighed, "I told you, that was Tarble. He kicks like hell."_

_He didn't believe her. He never saw her double over like that when she was alone or if anyone else touched her. It only happened when he had tried to feel his baby brother. His mother noticed his distress and only sighed again, snuggling him closer to her._

_"What are you going to do when your mate is with child? Are you never going to touch her?"_

_"No," Vegeta shook his head, "I won't have a mate. I won't have to worry about hurting her then."_

_"Then what? Tarble inherits the kingdom because his older brother's being silly and refuses to take a mate?" Her son nodded. "Vegeta, you're too worried for your own good. I bet one day you will get a woman with brat and _you_ will not be excused from just avoiding her. No doubt she will have you hold her and touch her because she wants to be loved."_

_"Love is a weakness. That's what Father says."_

_"He does, does he?" His mother questioned, raising a brow, "Let's just see if I can't make him say different later tonight when I have him where I want him."_

_Vegeta's eyes got wide, "Are you going to pull his tail?"_

_His mother laughed, using her tail to rub her son's back lovingly, "Among a great deal of other things that will change his mind."_

_The two continued on, his mother beginning to explain his new lesson schedule._

_

* * *

_

He groaned as he woke. His head was still pounding, but not as badly as he thought it might. Before, he had been in the beginnings of a migraine, but now, he definitely had one. He wanted nothing more than to roll over and go back to sleep, but his head hurt too much to drift off again.

What a strange dream… his mother's face had been present at least. Her smiles were still blurred, but he could remember her better. Gah! This pounding! He couldn't even think straight sentences long. Nor could he muse about his dream, though he had not forgotten it.

He groaned again when he could hear the sounds of the party going on downstairs. Ugh. Kakorrott was here… And his mate and his brat and the green bean and baldy and the perverted old man and the pig and the cat…thing and the weakling with some new female presence on his arm. Stripped tailed mongrel prince was gone as was his mate. Good. He had enough of the Z fighters here when he couldn't even stand for his tastes. No need to add the prince the Seiyens, the counterparts of his people.

He wished to muffle the sounds, so he pressed further into his pillows, trying to drown out the noise.

That's how Bulma found him not even an half an hour later. She had a tray of food that she was hoping to get down him and more pills. The others might have stopped working by now. She tried not to smile, but really, if she hadn't seen the tail, she might have thought he had gotten up and left for somewhere else.

"How's your head?" She asked as quietly as she could, knowing he would hear her.

She heard him spit out a couple words in his native tongue, but from what she could tell, he was cussing at her.

"That good huh?" She whispered, sitting at the edge of his bed, trying to find him under all his pillows. "Well don't worry, I brought relief."

His hand shot out from under some pillows, waiting for the pills.

"Nah-ah-ah-ah," She said, shaking her head, "You gotta eat something before I can give them to you. They aren't as effective on an empty stomach."

She could hear him growl at her but she didn't budge, she just smiled at the pillows and set the tray of food on the bed, "Come on, eat so you can go back to sleep. You're stomach's gotta feel better and I had to swipe these from Goku before he ate them."

She watched as he slowly pulled himself out of all his pillows, eating a bit. He was eating unusually slow, but that might have been because he didn't feel to wonderful. Once he had eaten enough, she slipped the pills into his hand.

"These should knock you out for a couple of hours. I need to go back downstairs and make sure everyone else is having a good time. I will come up with something for dinner for ya. Until then sleep well, kay?"

Vegeta grunted, swallowing the pills, gulping down some water and reburying himself into his pillows. He was out soon after she left.

* * *

_He walked down the familiar hallways of the castle he had not been in since his fifth year of life. It was almost nostalgic to see that even in his memories that the place was almost exactly the same. He could walk anywhere and know exactly where he was, but at this moment, he found himself at his mother's favorite balcony where she would watch the suns set over the horizon. More than once she had brought him and Tarble to watch the end of the day together._

_Unlike human children, Saiyans developed faster as pups. He had been surprised at how slow Kakorrott's whelp was when he first met him. He had been twice as smart at that age and more confident in his abilities, but perhaps that was because his mother knew he was a Saiyan and developed him, as a Saiyan child should be raised._

_It mattered little now. Saiyans were a dead race. He and Kakorrott were the last and when they went, there would be nothing of the once proud race._

_"There can always be something, you know. Us Saiyans might pass, but perhaps it is time for a new type of race to rise from the ashes of ours."_

_Those words had not been his own thoughts, but they answered his lament without doubt in a familiar voice that echoed the recesses of his mind. He turned from his spot to look at the smaller person leaning against the pillar, watching the suns set._

_"Mother," his voice sounded weak in his awe of seeing one of the few people he ever claimed to love._

_"Vegeta," She smiled at him with a brilliant smile he never thought he'd remember again, "You've grown wonderfully. Sorry about your height though. I know you always fancied you sire's height, but you ended up with mine."_

_Was… this a dream?_

_"Somewhat," his mother told him, walking up to the balcony rail and leaning on the marble masterpiece, "You are asleep, with a migraine I might add, but I am talking to you. And trust me, it's hard to get this kind of connection and go ahead from the big boss. She wasn't too happy about me breaking some rules, but I told her that it was important to our future, so she let me."_

_"So what did you come to tell me?" Curiosity always was his downfall._

_"What?" She snorted, giving him a teasing glare, "No, 'how are you mother?' or 'How is Trunks?' or even a 'long time no see. I glad to see you again, mother.'?"_

_"What do you want? I don't have time to waste."_

_"Always the diplomat," She rolled her eyes, "See, this is why you're brother was better suited to be the heir, he could talk the talk better than you could." She paused watching as her son snorted his disgust at her comment, "But then again, you could walk the walk and back up whatever you said. Something Tarble couldn't do. You're social skill might be poor, but you could always get the job done."_

_"Are we here to speak of my obvious character flaws or are we here for something more important."_

_"I like her." She suddenly said, leaning her head to rest on her arms that lay on the balcony rail, watching the suns' set._

_"Who?"_

_"Bulma. She's nice. Good for you." She shrugged._

_"You came here to talk to me about my relationship with the woman?" He asked incredulously._

_"Yep." She smiled, looking up at her son, "What did you think I came here for? To get the weather report? No, I came here because you are too stubborn to admit squat."_

_She cut him off before he could retort, "Sure, you've said you might try again, but might and will are two different things, boy. On top of that, she's having problems with her company, no? They want her to marry and produce and heir. Take care of those idiots first before pursuing her, she needs to know that you wanted her because of her."_

_"I do not desire the woman in that way."_

_"Who do you think you're kidding? The only person who believes that load of crap is yourself." His mother gave him a scolding look, "Vegeta, we are gone, our people are _dead_. The time of the Saiyans is gone… but that does not mean a new hybrid race cannot emerge from our ashes."_

_"So I continue the line purely for the hope of a new tomorrow?" Vegeta snorted angrily._

_"No, you continue on for yourself and your loved ones." His mother scolded, her face turning sad as she thought of what was to come next, "I did that, as selfish as it seems."_

_"You're dead, you can't of possible done anything of the sort."_

_"I made sure you lived."_

_Vegeta turned to look at his mother's downcast face. The amount of torture he had persevered, the amount of agony and mental pain, the amount of mockery and shame! It was because he lived when the rest of his people died. And there had been a time that he had wished he died on his planet almost everyday till he sucked it up and took it like an adult, which he hadn't been. He had only been ten._

_"You… you let me get taken? You _let_ me get tortured by that monster? Am I not your son! Why the hell did I have to undergo such a terrible life?" He was screaming at her near the end._

_"Because I couldn't bare the thought of you dying!" His mother roared back, baring her teeth, "I bore you into this world, through the long hours of birth, and I was the one who catered to you as a child! I was the one who nursed you till you were taken from my arms, and I was the one who couldn't bare the thought of my boys never having a chance to live! I was selfish not to take in account what that monster would do to you! I only thought of you alive!"_

_"Did you do the same to Tarble? Or did you keep him close at hand while the world was eaten by the monster's ki?"_

_"Tarble lived! I had your father ban him because of his weak structure and lack of interest in fighting. You, you we couldn't do that to… you excelled at everything and Frieza saw it and lusted after it."_

_The news of his brother's survival came as a shock. He stood there listening to his mother's confession as it continued._

_"I even tracked down the legend and made sure the decedents of the second son lived. I informed Parangus and he took Brolli in the night before the planets doom. Soon afterwards I sent off one of the two sons off world and had the other accompany you and Nappa."_

_"Decedents? Of the second son?"_

_The legend went that Evangeline Vegiit had a second son soon after she gave birth to Vegeta the first. His name was Kagua and he was to be his brother's protector. Vegeta ruled, Kagua protected his brother from anything that tried to overcome his brother. The first-born decedents of Vegeta took on his appearance with slight differences in hair and eye color as the years went on and Kagua's second born son took on his appearance as well. However, somewhere down the line, Kagua's decedents seemingly disappeared from history and no record of what they were suppose to look like could be found… His… his mother found it though?_

_"Yes," she sighed, "Radditz and his brother Kakorrott."_

_Irony right there. He was trying to beat the decedent of a man who was suppose to protect the crown, thus being stronger than the crown if there ever was any ideas of treason._

_"You would have been his equal had you not been in Frieza's army and raised the way he had been raised. In the end, it was your own body that brought your downfall." His mother sighed._

_He would have questioned her, but he knew she meant when he often starved. It only angered him that he found no flaw in that form of thinking._

_"Vegeta," his mother's voice was quiet, but it broke him of his musings._

_He looked down at her, noticing her sorrowful look and the way her tail tucked itself under her legs, a sign of one looking for forgiveness, "Please forgive me of my selfish whims. I did what I thought best at the time."_

_"And where did you go? Flee for your life?"_

_"I sat upon the throne and watched my people's destruction, ruling in your father's place as he tried to deliver us from Frieza…"_

_How could he say no to that? She had done her duty as a Queen and as a mother. She protected her young and tried desperately to make sure she was the ruler she had to be._

_"If you forgive me for failing our people," He relented with a sigh._

_"And how did you fail?"_

_"Freiza… I did not kill him."_

_"Kakorrott did, no?"_

_"Yes."_

_"And you passed the duty onto him with your dying breath?"_

_"...Yes."_

_"Then you did not fail us, but instead took vengeance for us. Your pride was sacrificed for our sake, you have done no wrong. Saiyan hands finished the job… So there is nothing to forgive on your end, my prince."_

_Vegeta watched his mother smile up at him with such love. He nodded, using his tail to warp around hers like he would have as a small child. It was a way of telling her all was forgiven on her end too._

_"So," he started, noticing the suns were almost gone, "How should I continue on?"_

_"That is for you to choose, Vegeta, you are free of us. Live, love, bring happiness back into your world. That is my only wish for you."_

_"Love is a weakness," Vegeta snorted, but never denying her request._

_"Your father told you that when you where young. I never got to tell you what he meant." His mother laughed._

_"I don't want to hear about how you had sex with him shortly after I went to bed and you made him groan out the words after he hit his climax," Vegeta growled, his cheeks turning pink._

_His mother laughed, "And you always use to think that I was pulling his tail! Your eyes got so big every time I told you that I'd speak to your father. You are such a prude! It is remarkable that I almost got a grandson the first time!"_

_"Mother!" His face burning with embarrassment._

_"Right, right," she giggled, waving at him dismissively, "What your father meant was that love was a weakness that only the strong should have." She glanced at his confused face, "It means, only the strong can admit such a weakness, because they are strong enough to protect those they love."_

_The suns dipped low, almost vanishing, "Look, Vegeta, I am out of time… but I want you to know that you are still not that sparkling gem yet, you have a ways to go still, but you are getting there. I see so much potential in you that I am proud to be your mother. I am proud to have given birth to you, and even if you had reached your pinnacle now… I would still be proud of what you are becoming. Do what you know is right. Do what your heart is telling you… and Vegeta?" She glanced at him, the world around him suddenly getting bright, but he didn't miss the last words she said._

_"I love you dearly."_

_

* * *

_

He didn't know why he jerked awake this time, but he did. He was panting heavy, sitting up and surrounded by his mass collection of pillows. He didn't even notice her presence until he felt the bed sink because of her weight when she sat.

"Hey," she smiled, holding a tray in her hands, "How's the head?"

He was shock that the pounding was minute now, no longer making him want to shoot himself in the head with ki to end it all.

"Better," was his one word answer.

"That's good. It should be gone by tomorrow morning," She nodded, pulling at the pillows until she had room to place the tray on his lap, "Eat and I'll give you enough medicine to knock you out till morning."

"What time is it?"

"Around nine," Bulma shrugged, "You were out all day, which probably was a good thing. The guys stopped by and all."

"I noticed," Vegeta acknowledged before he began to slowly eat the little food he had on his plate.

"Genki checked on you before he left, he said not to worry about you and to enjoy Christmas…" She chewed on her lip, "But I was sorta sad you couldn't join in."

"What? Miss me?" He teased.

"Yes." She didn't look at him as she said it, but it didn't mean it wasn't true.

It threw back Vegeta too. She had missed him?

"I know you wouldn't have socialized and probably disappeared as soon as the guys showed up, but I missed you being around. Goku wanted to spar too."

Darn it, he had missed a chance to gauge himself against the supposed decedent of Kagua.

"Chichi is actually supporting Gohan now. She still makes him study, but she joins in some of the sparring and is apparently helping Gohan make a form all of his own. Goku and Gohan are confused to why, but they are enjoying her company," She laughed, "She is trying really hard to be civil. She even asked how you were doing."

"She has seen what it means to lose someone and now is taking care of the ones she loves," Vegeta shrugged, "Standard after effects of a loss."

"Did you mean it?"

"Mean what?" Vegeta asked, wondering if this was going where he thought she was leading it towards.

She whipped around, staring at him hopefully, "Did you mean it when you said… when you said we might try again? Trying to have another baby?"

Yep, it was what he thought. "Has this been eating away at you since I said it?"

"Kinda," she smiled guiltily, "But… I didn't think it was the right time to ask you if you meant it. I was going to ask this morning, but you had a migraine."

"Yes, Onna," Vegeta sighed, pausing in his meal, "I meant it."

He could see the way she lit up. It meant a lot to her, he guessed. However, before she could put in a single word, he cut in.

"But on my terms."

Her face dropped again, "Terms?"

"Yes, I have some things I need to accomplish first, then I will get you with brat." He told her, continuing with his meal.

"That's it?" Bulma asked, unsure, "Nothing like last time?"

Vegeta stopped again, looking at her with a look that made her stomach turn to butterflies. That look in his eyes told her that it was different this time. Nothing was going to be like last time.

"No."


	15. Chapter 15

Hey everyone!

The nevermore beta-ed the chapter. Also, I have finally became interested enough to go seeking the livejournal .com place, so yep... I'm hovering elsewhere. I actually have an idea for a community, but I'll cross that bridge after I finish another story or something, for now, I want to be a ghost. But I'm the same name as I am here: Volleys-chan. So if you want to look me up, I think I would enjoy meeting fellow fanfiction readers and writers.

This chapter was hard, like the other chapter I am working on for my other B/V story (that one is harder since I lost a bit of my vision for that story (that's what's taking so long)) But the transitioning chapter is over and hopefully things will progress beautifully. BTW, I just received number 100 review! Let's see if we can't get it to 200!

I really hope you'll enjoy.

* * *

**_The Setting Sun_**

Chapter 15

_What Confuses You is the Nature of my Game_

* * *

**Disclaimer: will never own DBZ...**

* * *

There was a sudden ring of her phone that made her jump. Slowly a hand stretched out of the bedding, clumsily searching her bedside table for the continuous ringing of her cell. Strange, only one person ever contacted her and _that_ person had a particular ring, this was her ring tone for unknown callers. However, in her job, she couldn't ignore this particular phone.

Finally finding the phone, she pulled it under the covers with her and flipping it open and putting it to her ear.

"Hello?" She yawned, trying hard to pay attention to whoever this was.

_"Usually I would not call someone of inferior blood, but I am not familiar with this subject. I need your assistance."_ The familiar rough voice said on the other line.

"Wha?"

_"Must I repeat myself?"_

"V…Vegeta-san?" Came her sleepy question.

_"Of course, fool. Who else would it be?"_

"Usually it's my boss," another yawn, "What do you need Vegeta-san?"

_"Write down exactly what I am about to say."_

Ryo sighed. No doubt there was going to be no sleep in the coming hours of the morning.

* * *

Bulma sank into her seat, slouching as she did and without any thought to manners, rested her head onto her folded arms that laid on the kitchen table. She was almost staring at her mother's kitchen with distain.

"Why are you so glum, sweetie? Aren't you and that nice man getting along anymore?"

"_What_ nice man, mother?" Bulma huffed, not moving from her spot, "Do you mean the _alien_ creep who's disappeared? Cause if you mean _him_ then no, I am not getting along with him."

Her mother's face fell into a confused look, but still not looking anything but positive in her expression, "Why not deary? You two would make a lovely couple, if only you would get together! I want grandchildren you know! Before I can't bake cookies with them and shower them in a grandmother's love!"

"MOM!" Bulma yelled, shooting up into a defensive aggressive standing position, "Our relationship is none of your business! And I wouldn't be counting on_grandchildren_ any time soon!"

She may have looked annoyed, but Bunny knew that the faint glow on her face was a embarrassed blush. She always hit the mark, she was Bunny Briefs and this was her daughter; nothing got past her radar concerning Bulma's social life.

"So why are you angry at him now?" She asked, like she never ruffled those feathers of her daughter.

"Because," Bulma spat, sitting back down and looking down at her puppies that rested near her feet, "He has the gall to disappear for ten days straight. He says one thing, then the next morning: BAM! He's gone and I have no clue where the hell he is."

Her mother laughed at her daughter, pretending the glare was not present on her daughter's lovely face.

"Oh Bulma-chan, you ask too much of the man. Leave him be, if he is meant to be yours he will come back. This is Vegeta-kun, he is not human. He no doubt is doing something that he thinks is important."

"What can be more important than…" She paused, hoping her mother missed her tangent but Bunny caught it, "Never mind. He better come back soon or I'll put a tracker in him next time he comes back in his sleep."

"That sounds kinky," Her mother laughed, only getting an indignant shout from her daughter. "Oh Bulma-chan, relax. It is natural for lovers to want to be near each other."

"Mother," Bulma sighed with a exhausted look, "We aren't anything of the sort."

"Now," her mother said, turning to give her daughter a hard look, "I may seem to miss things, darling, but I know there is something going on between you and Mr. Vegeta. So, you can pretend that there is nothing going on, or you can admit there is, if only to yourself. I am not some old biddy completely oblivious to love. If I were, you may never have been born." She paused to let her daughter soak that in, "So, no denying something special dear."

It was scary sometimes to remember that her mother was a freaking genius and not much that concerned her daughter got passed her, not while she lived with her. Finally Bulma nodded and sighed again, returning to the position she had been in before she and her mother began to talk about her and Vegeta.

"I just wish I knew why he promised one thing and then took off. I am so confused mother, I don't know what to do."

"It seems like Vegeta-kun has some things he wants to take care of first before doing anything else. Trust him, dear. That's all you can do sometimes." Bunny told her daughter before smiling and going onto another subject, "But when he does come back, can you two try making me a grandbaby? I think that would be wonderful."

"MOM!" Bulma shouted, her face getting red.

Talking to Vegeta about getting 'with brat' was one thing, her mother telling her to get busy was another. Her mother laughed happily at her daughter's expression and finished making their unusually little breakfast since Vegeta seemed not yet ready to return home.

Both she and Bulma ate quietly. Bulma seemed to be thinking of something, lost in her own thought, so Bunny let her. Her daughter was everything to her and she would support her through thick and thin. She smiled even brighter when she thought of something.

"Well, deary, are you still curious to how Vegeta-kun is doing?"

"Yes," Bulma nodded, "I just worry about him sometimes cause he pushes himself over the edge when he gets carried away…"

"Then call him."

"Huh?" Bulma looked at her mother in confusion.

"Call him on his cell phone sweetie. He has it with him, no doubt. I made him promise he would when he wasn't on the compound just in case you needed help or got hurt."

That was right! He did say her mother had tricked him into carrying one, but it had been so he could be called about her welfare? Well, it had been around the time that she had been badly hurt. It was worth a shot since she didn't know if he kept the promise, but maybe she might get a hold of him.

She had been ready to ask for the number, but her mother had already thought ahead and written it down. She instantly memorized the number and pulled out her cell, putting it into her speed dial settings just incase. She excused herself from the table and headed outside for some privacy.

The phone began to ring. Once, twice, and it was in the middle of the third that the gruff voice she had come to like listening to answered.

_"What do you want?"_ He barked grumpily from his end of the line.

"Good, you are still alive." Bulma teased, her spirits instantly better.

_"Woman,"_ he realized who was on the other line, _"Did you really think there was something on your pathetic planet that could kill me?"_

"No," she drawled, rolling her eyes at his cockiness, "Not for another two years or so. Goku might be able to, but the guy isn't into killing, so no worries there."

_"Is there a real reason you called or are you just trying to grate my nerves with your whiny voice?"_

"Nope, just wanted to know what happened to the resident Saiyan that has been gone for a little over a week." Bulma shrugged, "My mother wants to know when she should start cooking for an army again."

There was a sound in the background and she could hear Vegeta curse under his breath. His nerves sounded shot from her side of the phone, like he was on his last leg of patience, and it wasn't Bulma who had worn them down either.

_"Soon, I hope. I am beginning to hate it here."_ He allowed himself to tell her.

He sounded tired.

"And where is here?" Bulma gently prodded him.

_"None of your business woman. I will be returning by the end of the week. You can tell your dame that."_

She could tell he wanted her off the phone and to drop the subject. Whatever it was, he was tired of it and he said he'd be returning soon, so there was no need to prod him further. Not until he had one of his mother's home cooked meals warming his stomach and a couple hours of rest.

"I'll tell her to make your favorites," Bulma allowed, "You sound tired, 'Geta. Get some rest and you better be eating well."

_"Hn."_ With that, the phone made a click and she knew the call had been ended.

When she came back inside, her father was also at the table. Her mother and he had yet to notice her and were talking to themselves. Her father was asking her mother about his newest idea and though Bulma could understand the scientific jargon and lingo her parents were using, she suddenly felt like she was imposing.

Her mother and father would always include her, but she could tell that this moment was special for them. She remembered a time when she would come in and out of the house, coming from or going on adventures with Goku, but now, she had been almost constantly at the house for at least two or more years. Sure, she lived on one side of the house, but suddenly she felt like she was imposing on them: their relationship.

She slipped out before they noticed she had come back in. Asahi and Tsukiyo had followed her out while she had been on the phone and where looking around curiously in the backyard. It was fine now, since they have both had vaccinations. She had gone shopping and got them collars and nametags and she was beginning their training. Apparently Vegeta taught them to use puppy pads while he had been taking care of them, but had left them mostly untrained. She usually walked them through the indoor garden to socialize them and get them use to other dogs and such. Perhaps she should take them on a walk.

The two looked excited to go on a walk. She had slipped in and grabbed the dog leashes, her parents too far gone in their conversation to notice, and hooked them up and headed out during the twilight hour. She didn't leave the area that she owned, all of it gated and secured by her robots so no one would be in here who should not and walked around the empty houses.

Most were like her parent's home, round and spherical, but there had been one house that she had purchased that had been a historical treasure. As she walked past the place, she smiled remembering all her plans she had had for the beautiful home. It had once been her dream to marry and move in and start a family. Though not as big as her parent's home, the home had rooms to spare. It was technically a mansion, but it was little compared to the hundreds of rooms Capsule Corps main house had, but Bulma had loved the traditional two story Japanese mansion she had purchased.

"I still think it would make a wonderful home," she sighed, continuing on.

Suddenly, she paused.

Why not move in? It was hers and she wasn't a little girl anymore, living with her parents was sort of strange for a woman of her status, money, and age (though she would admit she wasn't normal). She was in her prime! Why not move in to a littler place and have a home to herself! Her own taste in décor, a house her family could live in without thinking Grandma and Grandpa's house. It would be hers.

After feeling like she had been imposing not too long ago, the plan sounded wonderful. Plus it wasn't even a ten minute walk from her parents house and her mother loved to take walks to it would be like a little excursion for her mother, which she would love…

But then again… there was Vegeta. He wasn't one for much change. Her moving to a new house would be a huge change and she wasn't even sure he would join her in moving, though he was more than welcomed to. And it meant he would have to either go to her mother for food or suffer her cooking or, heaven forbid, learn to cook himself.

She sighed, heading back to her parent's home. It wasn't like the decision had to be made today and it was just an idea. She would think about it for a while before even deciding whether or not that was what she wanted.

Quietly, she headed back inside, her parents still talking, but to her surprise, they weren't talking about the blueprints anymore.

"Sometimes I wish we had been able to have another baby," her mother said with a sigh, "I love Bulma, but she is so independent. She never really needed us after she got her license."

"We tried, remember? We just could not conceive again, dear. Bulma was a miracle herself. After your accident in the lab, you weren't suppose to be able to have children."

Accident? That's right, a few years before she was born, there had been an accident in the lab. The one that made her mother realize how much she loved her father. They married the next year and soon after, gave birth to Bulma.

She never knew that she had been a miracle to them. It was still hard for her mother to talk about the accident though, so perhaps that was why they did not mention it.

"Besides, Bunny dear, Bulma is a full grown adult. I think it is time that we slowly butt out and finally let her do as she wishes without keeping an eye on her. She doesn't need us walking in when she and Vegeta are having a moment. And trust me, the boy doesn't need us walking in while he is trying to woo our daughter. He disappears easily enough without us embarrassing him to death."

"He's such a handsome man though. I find it a shame he won't sit next to me or stay around me."

"Bunny, dear, you scare the boy with your flirting." Her father laughed, "and for some strange reason I do the same. I only wanted a few tests done and I couldn't find him till I gave up on the research. It would have been for his benefit, but he doesn't like being a test subject I suppose. Shy boy, he is. If he is ever to be fully comfortable, it would have to be just him and Bulma."

Bulma snapped out of her eavesdropping and quickly left into the hallway that lead to her room. She mused over what her father said. He had been right, Vegeta was shy and he was made scarce around her parents- unless he wished to eat. It was time for her to separate from her parents a bit more.

It was time, she decided, and she would begin to work towards a goal of independence.

* * *

_"So, you have finally returned to me," had Bulma swirling around in surprise._

_Those golden eyes staring at her with a glow that she could only compare to polished gold held before a fire._

_"What? What do you mean I've finally returned? I have been waiting weeks for you to summon me!" Bulma shot back, still startled by the deity._

_"I don't summon. I never summon. You have to come to me," she pulled away, her face no longer in Bulma's._

_This time they were in a different place. A jungle thick with trees and life. Bulma looked back at Evangeline._

_"Where are we?"_

_"My home," Evangeline shrugged, "I was born here in these woods before the Tuffles came and destroyed the jungle with their buildings and technology."_

_"It is beautiful." Bulma told her still in awe._

_Evangeline chuckled, "Yes, well, I am happy to see that you still have an eye for beauty. Coming from a place dominated by technology, I would think you know little about beauty."_

_"Don't get me wrong, West City is technologically advanced, but the major cities are far and few between. After the World War that almost wiped us out, we rebuilt metropolises in fewer numbers and let there be more wild life and untouched land around. We learned from the last time."_

_"I see." Evangeline nodded, closing her eyes as she did, "Then I can trust you understand my unwelcoming behavior to too much technology."_

_"I do."_

_"Alright then," Evangeline looked at her again, "So why have you come?"_

_"Come? I didn't come here. I just…"_

_"So you do not understand the concept of what you are, do you?"_

_"You said I was a Seer. I figured that just meant that I could dream and draw the past of the Saiyans."_

_"No, there is more than that, child." The white haired Saiyan shook her head, "Being a Seer is more than just being able to dream and draw."_

_"Then can you enlighten me? I mean, I don't even know how to get here, let alone control these dreams!"_

_"You came here because you felt conflict. The more you train, the easier it will be to enter my private realm. You must will yourself here in your dreams. It is as simple as falling asleep with your mind turned to me and thinking of this space. Or so I am told."_

_"You mean… you _don't_ know yourself?"_

_"I was a mere Saiyan before being their deity, child. I do not have all the answers. This has always been out of my field of expertise. My sister was the Seer, not me."_

_"Then… is there a way to talk to her?" Bulma sighed._

_"Seigen is often busy with her own things, but I will invite her."_

_"Seigen? Isn't that the derogatory name that Saiyans call Seiyens?"_

_"Derogatory?" a white eyebrow was arched in confusion, "No, it was the name of the founder of the Seiyens. My sister, Seigen the Seer. Our people split, some coming with me and some going with her. Seiyens and Saiyans are virtually the same. The only thing the is different is they way they were raised to be. Years and years of breeding might have helped as well, but it use to be an honor to be called after the matriarch founder."_

_"Oh," Bulma blinked, "That's interesting. Vegeta and Genki are always going at it too. They don't like each other very much."_

_Evangeline laughed, "Boys will be boys."_

_"So, little one, what conflict brought you to my doorstep?"_

_Bulma remembered the thought that she had fallen asleep to and blushed a bit. It was really stupid._

_"Nothing is stupid child. It is what is important to your heart."_

_"You can read my thoughts?"_

_"Some. This is my realm after all. I make up the rules to the plain." She told her, a coy smile on her face. "So tell me child."_

_"I live with my parents and I feel that I am sort of imposing. I use to always be out and about, never home long, but I have been home for a while now… My parents would never push me out of the nest, but I feel like I am invading a bit now. I mean… I don't know what I mean… I just was thinking if I should move out and into a house instead of live with them. And then there's Vegeta. I mean. If I did move out, what do I do with him? He's my guest and I can't just leave him with my parents cause I mean-"_

_"Alright, I get it," Evangeline raised her hand to silence her, "You traveled a lot as a young adult, correct?"_

_"Yeah…"_

_"And because of that, you allowed yourself to seek refuge at you parents' home because it was easier than living in a home that would collect dust."_

_"Yeah."_

_"But now you are ready to settle. You no longer feel the need to share a dwelling with your parents, no matter how large their home may be. It is time for you to continue on and step into another chapter of life."_

_"Okay, but what about Vegeta?"_

_"As you said, he is _your_ guest, you take him with you. Or at least offer him the chance."_

_Bulma sighed, "Thank you for your advice."_

_"You still seemed troubled, but that perhaps is because it is still a decision yet to be made. I pray you make the right one." Evangeline nodded, putting her hood back on her head, "Time has run out yet again. Try seeking me out next time. I will have Seigen with me if I can."_

_"Alright, thank you for your help."_

_Bulma only saw the deity nod before everything went white._

_

* * *

_

There was a familiar ring tone that she had not heard in a while. Reaching out, she snagged the little device known as her cell and pulled it to her ear.

"Talk to me." She mumbled to the person on the other side of the phone, glancing up to see what time it was.

Four in the morning. Great.

_"Um… Bulma-san,"_ the voice sounded almost dumbfounded.

"Ryo," Bulma sighed, trying hard to not be grumpy at such an unreasonable time at night, "We've been through this-"

_"Right. Bulma. You might want to come in to work today and hold a meeting with the board."_

"Why? I know they're still pushing for a heir. But I'll deal with that later. I still am not ready to-"

_"Bulma, please come to work today. I have the answer to all your problems in my hand right now. And bring Vegeta-san with you." _Ryo interrupted.

Bulma blinked, "Vegeta? But Vegeta hasn't been home in over two weeks."

He had been gone fore fifteen days now, not that she was counting.

_"Please Bulma, do it. I need to go now, but please show up with Vegeta-san at three. Until then, I bid you goodnight."_

"Wait Ryo what-"

The click of the disconnection was heard even through her talking and it made Bulma wonder what in the world her secretary was thinking calling at four in the morning. She sighed, putting her cell back in its place. Her room was utter chaos with boxes everywhere. She had finally moved into the old mansion and was still cleaning up the rooms. Her mattress was on the floor, her cell on a box along with her alarm clock. Asahi was sleeping at the foot of her bed while Tsukiyo slept on the floor right next to her, like a guard.

She relaxed for a moment, trying to fall back asleep when she suddenly snapped upright, surprising both her sleepy companions.

"Oh crap, Vegeta wouldn't know that I moved!"

Sure, she remembered that he could sense ki, but she wasn't sure if he would figure out why she was in another location, especially if he was coming in this late at night… and… she had kinda moved some of his things in already, since he was her guest and all… so he might have become panicked (The kind that Vegeta got when things were not as they should be) and thought the worse. Bulma didn't really understand her sudden concern, but the way Ryo made it sound made her feel like he might be coming in tonight.

Not waiting for her puppies to follow, she quickly ran back to her parents home and ran to his room. Sure enough, Vegeta was there. His eyes clouded over as he was deep in thought, though the movement of his tail gave away his state of distress.

"You're… you're…" she gasped, running the whole way from her house to his room which was a good sixteen minute walk, "You're back."

Whatever he had been thinking about had been put to the side once he noticed that she was there, leaning against the wall and panting for air as she hunched over with one hand on a knee.

"What were you doing, Onna? Running a marathon? And where are my things?" He growled, but she could sense his insecurities of being casted out.

"Give… me… a minute," she said, trying to regulate her breathing, "I just ran… from… my room here."

"You're room is down the hall," Vegeta told her pointing at her old room. "Or are you that unfit?"

"I moved out," Bulma told him with a small smile, "It's the old mansion on the property, about a sixteen or so minute walk from here to there." And before he could jeer again at how unfit she was she added, "I took the liberty of moving you out there as well… I figured you wouldn't want to stay with my parents if I wasn't around to keep my mother off you."

She watched as his tense body suddenly relaxed at the news of his belongings. He really didn't think that she would kick him out, did he? Then again, he was not use to having things to call his own.

* * *

When he had first entered the compound, there was no way for him to describe how relieved he was to be back in familiar surroundings. No wonder the woman never liked going to that blasted workplace of hers, it was like herding cats! The men were intelligent, but at the same time so stupid! The didn't even have the common sense to keep themselves from harm. Idiots.

The green eyed female just seemed grateful he was finally gone. She had done most of the work and he usually just stood there as a symbol of strength the men could draw from. These members of the board were quite annoying little buggers and they ruled the company with fear. But alas, they were about to lose that later today.

He had walked to his sleeping quarters, too tired to do anything about the woman tonight, heck, he didn't even bother to check for her ki. All he wanted to do was bury himself under his pillows and sleep.

His idea however was killed the moment he opened his room's door. There were some large changes and subtle changes to his room. One, the furniture was moved. The bed that he had pushed against a very specific wall that gave him the best protection was moved back to where it had been when he had received the room. Two, it smelled heavily of cleaner, something he did not allow. Sure, he let the bots vacuum and dust, but nothing heavy on the senses. Three, his pillows where gone. It had taken him weeks when he had first gotten there to find those pillows and make sure that everyone understood that those, no matter who they use to belong to, were his. If anything, he was more miffed about his pillows than anything else.

He couldn't help that chill run down his spine when he thought of what it meant. Quickly he checked his drawers, but those were empty. All his things, the few he had, were gone and out of the room. Not even his toothbrush was in the bathroom.

His tail was beginning to curl and uncurl around his waist, tightening each time it curled as his anxiety grew. He wasn't one to freak out, but that didn't mean he didn't fret or worry. Doubt and distrust were a warrior's friend in the battlefield, so it was only natural for him to turn to what he knew.

He hadn't even heard her heavy footsteps or her ki until she called out to him, pulling him away from the building fear of being rejected from the pack family he was finally adapting to. He hadn't realized he held them in such regard till he thought them disowning him.

"You're… you're…" she gasped, breaking him of his thoughts, "You're back."

He noticed her heavy breathing and inability to do anything but lean forward as she fought to catch her breath. It put him to ease that she had been expecting him to return and, though she was still exhausted looking from her run, looked happy to have found him. Still he kept up his guard

"What were you doing, Onna? Running a marathon? And where are my things?" He growled, but she could sense his insecurities of being casted out.

"Give… me… a minute," she said, trying to regulate her breathing, "I just ran… from… my room here."

"You're room is down the hall," Vegeta told her pointing at her old room. What was she talking about? "Or are you that unfit?"

"I moved out," Bulma told him with a small smile, "It's the old mansion on the property, about a sixteen or so minute walk from here to there." And before he could jeer again at how unfit she was she added, "I took the liberty of moving you out there as well… I figured you wouldn't want to stay with my parents if I wasn't around to keep my mother off you."

With his suspicions all denied, he couldn't help but relax his tense nerves and allow his tail to loosen its hold around his waist. His stomach settled as well.

"You look tired, 'Geta," the woman told him before approaching him further, touching his bicep, "How about you come back with me and sleep. I don't have a bed ready for you, but I can share mine."

Vegeta looked at her a moment before nodding. If he was going to go through with his decision, he might as well get use to sharing a bed with her. He was tired too. She led him back, the cool crisp air nipping at his skin and he realized how cold she must have been since she was just in plaid patterned pj pants and a tank top. Needless to say, he flew them back so not having to worry about her health. She complained at first, but soon, she was nuzzling him on the very short trip and refused to let go even when he brought her inside.

She directed him to her room and to his displeasure, her set up was disorganized with a mattress on the floor without a headboard or proper bed frame. He grunted while he pried her off flopped down onto the mattress, too tired to do much else.

"'Geta?"

"Hn." He grunted, taking note of how the bed shifted ever so slightly when she slipped in and the black dog moved back to lay right behind her feet on the bed.

"Ryo called me and told me that I had a meeting at three? And to bring you with me."

"Sounds right," Vegeta mumbled, using his tail to pet her gently, "Go to sleep now, woman."

He was out before she could even ask her next question. After long hours of being away, awake for most of those hours, and being forced by his body to be in high awareness, Vegeta was finally able drop his guard long enough to fall asleep easily.

Bulma sighed when she realized she wasn't going to get answers, if anything the only constellation was that Vegeta was back and at least _he_ seemed to know what was going on. Soft purr like snores helped her drift off to sleep.

* * *

When Bulma had woken up that morning, she discovered that her little plan to sneak out of the bed and let Vegeta have until eleven or so to sleep was not going to happen. That whole theory about Vegeta being a snuggler kept becoming more and more like a truth. He was sleeping with one arm under his pillow, half his body onto of her while pulling her closer with not only an arm that found itself precariously close to her butt, but his tail that had somehow managed to settle itself under her shirt and between her two girls. His face lying on the pillow that had somehow moved downward and his face almost where his tail rested.

Yeah, no getting out of this one. She almost laughed at how Vegeta was pretty much no longer against her now that he had decided they would try for another baby. If anything, she was guessing his instincts now told him it was alright to put the soft, twitchy tail where it was. She was 'his' after all (or at least that's what he probably thought subconsciously).

But the point was, she wasn't getting out of there anytime soon. If anything, she would have to wait till he woke up. As fate would have it, the phone rang. Bulma quickly used the one hand that wasn't pinned to grab it and place it close to her ear.

"Hello?" It wasn't Ryo's number.

"_Bulma, sweetheart_," the sweet French accented voice said from the other side of the phone, "_Where in the world are you? You have a hair appointment today, no_?"

"I do?" Bulma blinked, trying to remember setting one up.

"_Wee_," Jacquie said, no doubt nodding, "_Ryo called me this two days ago and scheduled. She said that you'd be here by now. Should I wait? Or do you wish to cancel?_"

"No, no," Bulma said, trying to pull away from the secretively (yeah right) possessive Saiyan, "Give me a half an hour to throw something on and I will be there."

"_Wee_," Jacquie said again, "_I shall inform your stylist. He showed up fifteen minutes ago_." There was a giggle and Bulma could hear the teasing, "_And he has more than just an outfit for you. Big plans, no_?"

"What are you _talking_ about?" Bulma asked, utterly confused.

Jacquie was about to answer but the phone was ripped out of her hands and the raspy, rough voice of her companion's sleepy voice barked out, "She'll be there within twenty minutes." And promptly hung up.

"Vegeta," Bulma hissed, glaring at the man that had yet to move or even open his eyes, "What the hell is going on."

As soon as he opened his eyes to glare at her, he quickly pulled away from her chest, rolling over to hide his blush. Why the hell was he on top of her! And trying to bury himself in her chest no less?

He hadn't even thought to check where his tail was, though it was twitching in mortification.

Bulma couldn't help but start at the feel of his tail twitching there of all places and gently pulled it from its spot and tug lightly to get his attention.

"Hey," she said in a lighter tone, recognizing his current state as the one she had seen when she had first started to pursue him, "I asked you a question mister. What is going on. First Ryo says I have a meeting at three and tells me to bring you; second, my hair stylist calls and asks me about an appointment I didn't set up; and finally, my stylist is there… with clothes for me _and_ you. What. Is. Going. ON?"

There was no answer, like she wanted, instead he had rolled back onto her, being careful with his weight not to crush her, and looked her face to face. Their noses almost touching as he looked her in the eyes. She had never gotten such a close look at his eyes, he always held himself at a distance or never stayed close for long, but something shocked her when she looked really close. They were speckled in a dark, dark, dark purple and dark, dark, dark colors of blue in his actually coal colored eyes. She had never seen something so amazing as that, but then it dawned on her that he wasn't human. He was an alien and thus his people's eye colors were not the same as hers.

Suddenly, Vegeta pressed his nose against her, closing his eyes as he did so and inhaled deeply. He moved down slowly till he was rubbing his nose against her stomach, inhaling her scent once again before pulling away. The whole time, Bulma had been just silent, her eyes wide with shock, and a blush at how tender he seemed to be at this moment. It wasn't until after he pulled away did she notice his true intent.

"Get up, get dressed in something, and for Kami's sake were are my things," Vegeta barked, pulling away and getting up.

He had managed to finagle his tail out of her grasp as he kept her distracted. When she realized his sneaky, dirty trick to getting her grip to loosen, she yelled after his form that was retreating with the clothes he had slept in.

"VEGETA!"

* * *

Bulma still couldn't believe it. She was currently unpacking, but her fingers shook with shock still and with excitement. Her tummy was doing flips, but at the same time it felt wonderful. It was wonderful, all of it and she just wanted to cry again.

Earlier today, she had been fussed over, dressed up, made to look like a diva, and dragged to her office by the stupid Saiyan who refused to let her throw a temper tantrum on the floor. He had grabbed her by the wrist and if she did not walk on her own accord, he just dragged her along, whether she was standing or not.

She did not know what was going on. She didn't know why he was even there with her, hell, she didn't even know that he knew where Capsule Corps.'s headquarters _was_. She hadn't been walking into a situation she was prepared for, that was all she knew.

_"Vegeta,"_ she had whined again at him, trying to keep up with his fast pace so he didn't pull her along, _"just tell me what is going on!"_

_"Good, you got her here,"_ Ryo said when she had approached the two the moment they were in the lobby for the conference room.

_"What is going_ on_,"_ Bulma hissed, her temper cut short during that moment in time because of everything she had gone through that morning.

_"Here, read over this and you will understand."_ Ryo said and handed her a big list of names.

_"Most of these people are my scientist and head manufacture's names, so what?"_ Bulma asked, utterly exasperated.

_"Those are the people who will leave if you are removed from your position,"_ Ryo said with a big smile, _"I don't know why we didn't think of it, but Vegeta-san sure came through for you. Now all you have to do, is bully the board members into withdrawing the condition and could you fire them? That's something I'd like to see. Vegeta-san is going in with you, so good luck!"_

She had been so surprised, she smiled at the memory of Vegeta's face. For a moment, he had been somewhat embarrassed being called out on his kind deed. It didn't last long, because shortly after that she went in and terrorized those men and forced quite a few into early retirement. Though, now that she thought about it, having a big scary Saiyan behind her did probably help. _She_ could feel the killer intent coming off of him and it wasn't even directed at her.

She was working on her last box of clothes for her drawers and it so happened to be her lingerie that her mother had been so adamant about getting her. She quickly glanced around, feeling foolish for even looking over her shoulder to see if Vegeta was nearby, before putting them away. She didn't want to be teased for keeping them.

She didn't know that Vegeta was watching her shortly after she returned to her thoughts and her work. His plan had worked beautifully, even better than he had thought. She was now, not only free from having to produce an heir, but showed that she was the alpha in her workplace and she would not tolerate anyone usurping her power.

His tail flicked from side to side as he watched her put away a more kinky looking outfit. Why her mother bought her those, he didn't know. Perhaps she was more insightful than she let on. Anyone who could make a Saiyan-proof phone and force the Saiyan to keep it was a mastermind. He watched her a bit longer before he silently inhaled the scent of her room. Yes, the smell was still strong. It was almost identical to the smell she had let off right before Trunks was conceived, only stronger.

He was a little stuck though. He knew he should act now, while the scent was strong so he could secure her that pup that she wanted, but he feared having a relationship with her. The child from the future said he would die. He was by no means as weak as he had been at that time and each day he was getting more and more control over his Super Saiyan from, going from a few seconds of being able to hold it to an hour or so. He had yet to grasp it perfectly, but he was getting there.

The problem that he was concerned about though, was leaving her behind if he died, tying her to him so that his death would affect her like a mate- leaving her widowed with a part Saiyan child to care for. He came to a conclusion thought that, if anything, he would need to do it now or never, because right now, he assist her in raising the child from being a hazardous newborn to a intelligent toddler at least that understood their strength too much for their mother.

He would move now, but he would wait on any ceremony until after the threat passed. He would not perform the Royal's ceremonial dance, nor the human's wedding vows until he knew that he was going to live. The best he could give her right now was the promise of being hers, mating her under his people's mating bond that would be dull enough that it wouldn't cause major issues if he suddenly ceased to exist. Royals did the commoner's mating ceremony if they were to mate before going off to battle, unsure if they would come back.

That was what he would do, he decided. All that was needed now was to approach her with the proposal, hopefully she could agree with the prerequisites. Skillfully, he snuck up upon her, making sure to make no sounds and hoping her always present pups would not tip her off. He silently sat down behind her, making sure to keep a safe distance so she could not feel his heat and slowly readied for the next moment.

She had been so into her work that she had not even noticed him. She was about to put away one of her more exotic lingerie when suddenly strong hands wrapped around her stomach and pulled her away from her dresser, making her lose balance and fall into… a lap?

"Vegeta?" She squeaked in shock, turning herself so she could see those onyx eyes of his looking at her amused. Her eyes instantly darkened as she nailed him with the lingerie she had in her grasps, "You jerk, you scared me!"

"You should be paying more attention to what is around you," Vegeta shot back with a smirk, "What would have happened if it wasn't me?"

He pushed his nose into her hair, inhaling the scent and playfully flicking his tail against her flesh.

Bulma blinked in shock. Was Vegeta being playful with her? Why? She didn't know, so continued on with the conversation.

"If it wasn't you, I would have screamed for you and you would have come and kicked whoever it was' butt." She said with a grin, "Because you like me."

She was more surprised that all he did was chuckle, not refuting her last statement. Did he like her!

"Do you still want that pup, Onna?" Vegeta said after a while, his teeth grazing against the flesh of her neck, "Because I only have two more conditions for you."

Conditions? Yes, Bulma swallowed, her body shivering at his teeth's movement. He said they'd do this on his terms. Did they meet his other terms? When? He had been gone.

"What are your terms?"

"My first one is that I claim you as mine. No other shall touch you as long as I live." Vegeta whispered into his ear, hoping his nervous stomach settled.

"As in marriage?" Bulma questioned.

"My people's term of marriage. This one is stronger than what you humans do for bonding one to another, but weaker than what I want to do."

"Are you asking me to marry you?" She was shocked to hear such words.

"In a way, yes," Vegeta confessed, growling slightly to cover up his nervousness.

He was not one to take rejection well and he did not know what he would do if she denied his advances on her. There was silence as she just stared at him. His tail began to twitch back and forth as he waited for her to figure out what she wanted.

Bulma on the other hand was in utter shock. Her mind was still reeling at this idea. Vegeta wanted to marry her. Her. The one that she would never marry. The one who told him about not being interested in finding a husband. He… he wanted to be her husband? Hers? The one who bothered him constantly and pestered him for fun? Did she even love him? Did he even love her?

She didn't notice that there were tears in her eyes as she continued to think. She came to an alarming realization. These weeks where Vegeta had been gone were lonely. Her mother's words earlier that week rang in her head. Yes, there was something between her and Vegeta, something special that was not just two friends. He even told her, he was not her friend. He was right. He was more. But husband material?

She looked at his face, noticing the well hidden worry in his eyes and the nervousness that he seemed to be radiating- though only she could probably pick it up. She realized something at that moment. Only she knew Vegeta so well that she could read into his tiny movements, knowing his discontent or happiness. He only opened up to her and he seemed keen on protecting her and being with her when he could.

Her eyes widened when she thought of this morning. He had set everything up so that she could walk into those conference doors and kick butt and take names. He had been there to back her up, even threatening not to test any dangerous product that the company needed his expertise in and, unfortunately for those men, that meant all weapons and experimental machinery. He monopolized that and was well paid for it. He didn't need her money, he didn't need her status in life, and he was not interested in anything that she had to offer him Earth wise; he was just interested in her and he had made that clear when he made the board annul the condition they had placed on her. He didn't want her to doubt this offer to be his as pity, not that Vegeta pitied anyone- ever.

Vegeta cared for her enough that she could probably call it love. She wasn't entirely sure yet because he still guarded his heart like no other, but he was willing to confess he wanted her to be his mate. He was pursuing her now instead of fleeing like last time.

And Bulma couldn't help but realize that she loved him very much and wouldn't know what to do if he left her.

"Okay," She finally nodded, "I'll 'marry' you according to your people's standards."

She felt his whole body relax under her as he breathed out and rested his head on her shoulder.

"It took you long enough." He complained, his nervous stomach instantly settling.

"Sorry, I just had to come to some conclusions." She laughed, wiping away her tears.

"Why are you crying anyways." He asked, raising his head to glance down at her.

"Same reason I cried when you gave me the dogs, I'm happy." Bulma said looking up from her spot on his lap and kissed his jaw gently, trying to console him because he looked frustrated. "So, what's the other term, 'Geta?"

He blushed lightly as he took the lingerie that she had forgotten was in her hands and whispered in her ear, "Show me what it means to lay with a woman."

"As long as I get to play with your tail," She said, nipping at his earlobe.

"Hmph," Vegeta said with a smirk on his lips, "My tail is your tail."

She laughed as he bent down, tickling her with his tail, and nuzzled his face into her neck, slowly pushing them further onto the ground. Bulma realized that her new collection of lingerie wasn't just going to be for display only from that night on.


	16. Chapter 16

Hey everyone!

Alright. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. I have been trying to get to this point for the last 15 chapters. Lol. Sorry, bad joke. Anyways... yep. ^_^ Be proud of my evilness. I have completely changed everything by killing off one character! See what a character death can do to the whole lot of people it affects? (well you'll see)

This has not been beta-ed, so this is raw. Tell me what you are thinking because I find I work the best when I get feedback. Also, someone wanted a lemon? I will repeat this over and over and over. I don't do lemons. I will lead up to one, but I will not do one. Sorry, but I draw the line there.

I really hope you'll enjoy.

* * *

**_The Setting Sun_**

Chapter 16

_Scardy Cat_

* * *

**Disclaimer: will never own DBZ...**

* * *

It was like all those months ago, though, at this moment, she didn't remember being this sick. With her head in the toilet, heaving up anything that she might have consumed within the last couple hours, she vaguely wondered why this baby seemed to make her absolutely sick. She pulled away, resting against the wall, her face pale and she felt miserable, but she was happy in a way. It was only about seven weeks after she and Vegeta had tried to conceive again, and apparently they had tried at the right time, the first time.

It was almost the same as last time: she ate massive amounts of food, got sick more than she wanted to count, and sometimes would just pass out in the middle of things, though it was usually when she wasn't working but relaxing. All this was expected from the last time she had been with child, so it took her a little longer to get her new home situated. She was almost done, but she was putting off her baby's room till it was big enough to learn the sex of the child. Everything about her was going as she expected.

Though, she frowned, she was now having one unexpected problem. Vegeta had suddenly given her a wide birth of space. If she entered his space, he moved to give them the same amount of distance. He only touched her when he needed to and had even started to put his blasted pillows between them at night. Bulma didn't want to admit it, but she had been getting a little flustered and had been wanting to 'get some' from him, which he would not do. Ever since her pregnancy had been confirmed, he had backed away.

There was a click of something being set down and Bulma whipped her head around to see the glass of water in her reach and the pills that she took often to settle her stomach, nothing else- not even the Saiyan that put them there. She smiled half-heartedly as she reached up for them. Vegeta didn't seem to want to touch her, but he still looked after her. That was something she kept reminding herself about. He had been making sure there was food in the fridge that she could snack on, walk her to her mother's kitchen (after making sure she wore enough clothes to keep her warm), and she always found herself in her bed after a sudden spell of sleepiness hit her.

Oh, and her mother was ecstatic that she was getting her first grandbaby. Especially when she tricked Bulma into letting out that the little mating rite they had preformed was a form of marriage. She still couldn't believe her mother had done that, luckily she hadn't bothered Vegeta about it at all. That and her mother couldn't get over the weather phenomena that occurred right as their lovemaking began. It began to snow that moment, like putting a new blanket onto of the old and starting all over. Bulma secretly felt it was just like that.

Quickly taking the pills and swallowing the water, she waited a moment till she was sure she was done and brushed her teeth to get the taste out of her mouth. Slowly, she made her way back into her bedroom. She admired the room only briefly before plopping down onto her soft bed, trying hard not to shove Vegeta's pillows off the large bed just to spite him.

She sent him a quick glare, knowing he was in the doorway without having the check. He hovered even if he never touched her. She knew it was juvenile, but with her mood swings that she had been having, there was no way to reason with her. Her logic side shut down in one of her 'moods' and whatever she said goes.

"What." He snapped at her, narrowing his eyes and making sure that she could see his agitation.

He knew what was coming.

"You did this to me," She wailed from her spot on the bed, touching her stomach and all but snarling at him.

"If I remember correctly, you allowed me to do this to you." Vegeta quipped from his spot. The dogs were on his side, afraid of their mistresses uncertain mood swings and sudden violent tendencies to attack the master.

"This is all your fault," she shouted at him, "Everyday, not only do I puke out my brains, but I eat almost as much as _you_ do."

"Hardly," Vegeta snorted, "You eat an eighth of what I do, possibly a seventh, not anything more. Are you done with your caterwauling? Or do my ears have to bleed further to your whiny voice."

He groaned when she burst out into tears, crying into her pillow. She took things too seriously now and now he couldn't banter with her without _this_ being the outcome. He almost remembered _why_ he had left to go into space the first time, but he vowed not to leave her prone, weak body susceptible to danger.

"Woman," he sighed, trying to save his poor ears the high-pitched cries that unsettled his stomach and made more than just his ears hurt. "Stop crying."

"No," she wailed, reason obviously left her long before the conversation began, "You hate me."

Vegeta rolled his eyes, "I do not hate you, woman. Do you think I would bind myself in any way if I did."

"You pitied me."

"I pity no one."

"You don't come near me, you don't touch me, and you don't want anything to do with me." She cried, sniffling into her pillow.

Kami, he hated this stage of the pregnancy. Did his mother ever do this to his father? Probably not exactly something like this, but he did recall her putting his sire into a headlock, yanking his tail when he denied her a quick round (Luckily he didn't connect the dots until Radditz explained it to him when he was going through 'changes').

"That isn't true," he told her, still keeping the same distance.

What was he suppose to tell her? He didn't want to touch her because of something so asinine as worrying about hurting her? He had hurt his mother the day he touched her. Sure, he knew it was Tarble who kicked her, but what if he had done it in response to Vegeta's ki? What if the little one did the same to his mate? She would not be able to take a hard hit like his mother and come out alright.

"Then what!" She roared, looking up to glare angrily, "What is the truth, Vegeta? I don't know, you won't tell me!"

"Get some rest, Onna, it will be better after you sleep a while." Vegeta said, leaving the threshold.

Conversation over.

She screamed angrily, throwing one of the knick-knacks that happened to be within her reach into the hall, where Vegeta had been. After letting out some very elaborate names, her eyes began to droop and slowly she drifted off. Her mind barely returning to logic enough to wonder why Vegeta refused to touch her.

* * *

_Now if this place was not familiar, then she was a monkey's uncle- which she wasn't because of the fact that she was a girl and she had the parts to prove it (though they did call Gohan a monkey enough times to make her a monkey's aunt). She had drawn it dozens of times when she found herself blanking out to the world, which she still did often, and drawing what she 'saw'. It was that same balcony with a lovely suns set._

_She half expected Evangeline to be right in front of her the moment she turned around._

_"You know, I think you are getting the hang of this," the teasing voice of the deity said from behind her, "Or perhaps not, since it has been two months or more since I last saw you in my plain."_

_"Sorry," Bulma squeaked, turning around to face the deity, "I've been kinda busy."_

_Evangeline chuckled as she eyed the bulging tummy on her last seer, "I can see that."_

_Bulma's face lit up with embarrassment, "That's not what I meant!"_

_She was sputtering an explanation while Evangeline laughed heartily at her. She knew what she had meant, it was just too fun to pass up the chance to make her little seer squirm._

_"Hush child, I have been through pregnancies before, I know what you mean. The increase of appetite and the loss of energy. Little ones take up a lot of energy in order to stabilize their life ki." She assured the bluenette._

_"Oh," Bulma blushed as she just stood there looking at her feet._

_This was not a conversation that she wanted with the most powerful Saiyan ever recorded, even if she was a female and could kick the butt of any male of her species._

_"I guess that is not why you came." Evangeline said gently, making sure to give the child a gentle, assuring look, "So, why is it you've come?"_

_"I'm stuck." Bulma said shrugging, "I finally had a real relationship with Vegeta and now that I'm expecting, he won't even touch me."_

_"Ah. That might not be something I can answer," Evangeline told her with a shake of her head. Bulma's spirits dropped at this. She sighed, resting her head on the balcony and watched the suns slowly dip closer to the deep red horizon._

_The deity smiled after a while, "But I know of one who can. And it so happens that even though Seigen is not with me this time; she is. Very stubborn about waiting here for you to come seeking this very question."_

_She raised her head up to look at the bone-white haired woman with confusion. Who would know Vegeta so well that they knew why he acted so strange around her?_

_"That would be me, little one," a voice that never left her memories, echoed throughout the white columns that were right behind the open balcony._

_There, the same as she remembered from her first vision of the spirit world, was Ze-Azel… Vegeta's mother._

_"I am glad to see you remember me well, child." She smiled freely, approaching the two with a strong stride that screamed confidence and poise. She gracefully bowed her head at her deity and waited for the sound of a pleased purr from her better before raising her head to look at Bulma._

_"How is Trunks! Is he well? Is he getting along with the others?"_

_Those were the first thoughts that came from her mind and onto her tongue. Ze-Azel chuckled lightly at her concern._

_"She is already a mother and she has yet to actually nurture a child," she noted aloud, "what a fine mother you will be when you actually raise your first whelp. Trunks is fine. He has grown attached to a few Royal members, including his grandfather. The man is a grouchy ole' thing, but Trunks seems to get past that façade and see the real proud king."_

_Bulma smiled upon hearing that. She was relieved that Trunks was doing well in the Garden of Eden. She had worried over him for a while, but soon learned to trust in Vegeta's trust in his mother._

_"So, Vegeta is avoiding you like the plague, is he?" Azel asked, approaching the balcony and hopping up to sit on the rail._

_Bulma was shocked by the correct guess of her majesty._

_The monarch left out a guilty smile and gave her a look that pleaded forgiveness. "That might have been something to do with me when I was carrying Tarble."_

_"…Tarble…" Bulma cocked her head to the side. Vegeta had a brother?_

_"Yes, he did. Tarble. He's three years younger than Vegeta and if you are wondering the lack of mention about him, it was because he didn't know for a long time that his brother lived. Tarble was… weak compared to normal Saiyans. It turned out to be his saving grace when I convinced my husband to exile him. Freiza never bothered to even look for him." She explained, "But that is not the point."_

_"What… is the point," Bulma asked, looking curious._

_She didn't know if it was her business learning about something that Vegeta had kept to himself. She almost felt like it was a invasion of his privacy._

_"He does not have the right to keep these things from you, even if he has only invoked the commoner's bond with you. You are baring his whelp, you deserve to know about his…. What is the translation for jiistena?"_

_"Phobia." Evangeline chipped in._

_"Right," The raveness nodded, turning back to the blue haired vixen, "His phobia."_

_"Vegeta has a phobia?" Bulma asked with an unbelieving skepticism, raising a brow and staring with a straight face, "That's like saying that he eats one plate of food."_

_"Aw," Azel chuckled, raising a finger into the air as she emphasized her point, "He can eat one plate of food. The likelihood is small, but he could if he wanted. So it is possible for Vegeta to have a phobia."_

_Bulma sighed. The monarch had a point. Vegeta could if he tried, so perhaps the idea of him having a phobia was possible, though he no doubt had only one or two small fears in his life. The rest was just trauma._

_"So, what is it?"_

_"It's not that simple to just say it and go on with life. The background of his fear is needed," Ze-Azel sighed as she stared off into the suns set, "You see, it all started when I was pregnant with Tarble. Saiyans develop faster than you humans and our gestation period is usually about six months, but the child is fully developed by the third month. It gains weight and strength the longer it is in there, so babies born seven or eight months were said to be very powerful."_

_"I bet they were huge," Bulma laughed, trying to imagine mothers being that big as they tried to cook the 'bun' a little longer._

_"We could keep them in our wombs as long as need be. Unlike humans, we could keep the baby in longer. I held Vegeta for nine months." Azel shrugged. She smirked, answering the question before Bulma could even speak it, "And yes, I was unable to get up for a while he was just that big, but I was a stubborn one. I wanted to make sure I could give him as much ki as possible. But we are off track. I wanted to tell you about my pregnancy with Tarble, not Vegeta._

_"Vegeta was a simple child to carry. He kicked every so often, but he seemed to respect me as his mother. Tarble was not like that. He did not have the same magnitude of a bond that I had with Vegeta and kicked and squirmed often. I gave birth to him after only four in a half months. The one and only time Vegeta ever tried to feel his baby brother was the worst kick of them all that I doubled over in front of poor Vegeta and scared the life out of him. He never wanted to touch me while Tarble was still in the womb after that, scared that he'd hurt me again, blaming himself for Tarble's sudden aggressive kick." She sighed, looking down for a moment before glancing sadly at Bulma. "No doubt he worries that he might cause you pain as well. If I doubled over from the pain, no doubt it would kill you. That's probably what he's thinking."_

_So he feared hurting her. He wasn't going to hurt her!_

_Azel must have been more skilled at listening to thoughts that had too much power behind them, since once again she heard Bulma's._

_"No, if anything, he might need to feed the baby his ki since you are not as powerful as a normal Saiyan female trying for her first time. Your human friend is a martial artists, she has the ability to give them more ki than you. But your problem is convincing Vegeta that he won't hurt you. That'll be the hardest part."_

_"Thank you, Your Majesty," Bulma bowed, "For everything."_

_"No," Azel countered, bowing as well, "Thank you for giving my people hope. Our race might become extinct, but we are at ease knowing there will be a race to follow us, raising from our ashes and perhaps choose a better lifestyle than our own."_

_The suns began to set, both Evangeline put her hood back up while Ze-Azel pulled up a white hood._

_"It is time for you to leave, traveler and seer," Ze-Azel said, "Take care of our decedent, my son."_

_Again, the world went white.

* * *

_

The room was quiet when she woke. Her little puppies were the only noise that could be heard and she could tell by the gentle clacking of their nails against the protected hardwood floor that they were following Vegeta around. Somehow he had trained them to follow around either him or her (mostly her though). He was trying to be quiet, but her puppies did not allow him to silently check up on her.

She feigned sleep the best she could so he would enter, remembering how relaxed she might have been while in sleep and breathed in and out as slowly as a sleeping person might. She had been surprised he fell for it. He paused at the door, staring at her a moment before grumbling in his native tongue about something before entering. She was surprised he had gotten as close as he did. As of late, he never sat anywhere close to her, but he sat on her side of the bed, staring at her. She could feel his eyes upon her and his troubled presence next to her.

Vegeta didn't even know why he was checking on her. Her ki suddenly dropped and rose again, causing him to worry. He could sense the little one taking much of its mother's ki to create its own life and could tell it was greedier that Trunks had been and took almost twice as much, if a little less than that. If this kept up, he would need to provide his own ki in order to sustain its appetite for ki. He had sat down next to the woman as she slept, trying to think of what to do.

What if the child lashed out? He had only touched his mother and she had doubled over from his brother's reaction. Would his child do the same?

He realized he had become lost in thought too late. He cursed himself later for having dropped his guard so, but he had felt at ease near the woman. However, in this case, she had used that in her advantage.

She had not been asleep, like he had thought. That was what the sudden rise in her ki had been, her awakening. And now, she was straddling his waist, wrapping her legs around him and using her arms to cling to his neck, pushing her growing stomach into his sculpted one. He froze immediately before finding himself trying to push her away. She clung on and he had to give up, less he hurt her in her delicate situation. A memory of his mother's pained expression as she had lied there helplessly for a good fifteen minutes flashed in front of his eyes. He didn't want it to happen again. Not to Bulma. Not to her because unlike his mother, she wouldn't get back up.

"Vegeta," She breathed into his ear, not caring that he was panicking. It was like she knew he would panic, like she knew of his fear suddenly.

She pushed her swelling belly further into his stomach, "Calm down."

It didn't even occur to him that he was panting or even hyperventilating until she had said those words. He wanted to feel angry at her exposing his weakness, but felt disgust at such pathetic side of him that he was showing her. Since when had he been such a coward?

"Onna," Vegeta growled out, trying to convince to her to remove her person from his, but the words were trapped in his throat when she took his hand, squeezing it between him and her and letting it rest on her belly.

"It's alright," Bulma assured him, "Nothing it going to happen. You aren't going to hurt me Vegeta."

Vegeta froze all over again, memories of his mother flashing to the front of his mind. The pain in her face and the sweat from her brow when Tarble had kicked, after he had tried to connect to his brother using his ki, just like his mother had instructed. It had been devastating to him at that time.

But here… he felt something push up against his hand, something small, but it did no harm to its mother, if anything, the whelp thrummed its ki in joy and recognition. Vegeta's eyes widened as he silently gasped at the reaction he had received. Did the child sense ki? He looked at the woman cautiously, she smiled at his eye contact and nodded to his unasked question. Their small rapport allowed her to understand some of his thoughts, if he let down his guard enough for her to see.

Slowly he pressed his hand a little harder against her, instead of the light, wary touch that had been forced onto him, and slowly leaked his ki into her womb. The whelp did no harm to its mother as it greedily took all that its father would allow. He had been right, the brat would need his ki if it was to grow stronger. Its mother did not have enough.

Eventually, he pulled away, realizing the start that Bulma gave. Had she fallen asleep during the ki transfer? Her sleepy smile and the way she snuggled her head into the nook of his neck confirmed it.

"See? You didn't hurt me." Bulma whispered gently, "So can you stop avoiding me? Please?"

Her voice was raspy from sleep, but it made the request that much more effective. It sounded like she was about to cry if he said no. She had been right though. He had not hurt her and now that he realized that the child accepted him and welcomed his touch, it would not lash out on its mother when he did make contact.

However, there was no retort he could give the woman for her bold actions. She had exploited a weakness and once again he couldn't find the anger within him to be mad at her. Instead he relax, plopping down onto the bed with her on top of him still, only situating her slightly so her legs no longer wrapped around him uncomfortably. How long had it been since he allowed her to be near him?

Too long. He hated how he missed her touch, her warmth at night.

"Shut up Onna," he finally told her, situating her one last time so she was lying on her back, close to him.

She curled into him, suddenly feeling more tired than she had been and her eyes became heavy. Soon she fell asleep to the sound of his heartbeat, wondering if her baby would look more like daddy this time. She thought it would look lovely with black tufts of hair and her blue eyes. That would be wonderful too.

* * *

"Well, it seems you and Vegeta-kun are getting along better," her mother mused after watching the two come to her kitchen for their usual meal.

Vegeta as of late would eat first before going and walking Bulma all the way to the kitchen, but today he came with her, ate, and then left to train. He was never in there long these days. Not with Bulma as big as she was. She was slowly getting bigger and bigger with each passing day and Bunny had noticed that Bulma seemed to have gained more weight than last time, but kept it to herself. She didn't need to make her daughter conscientious about her weight. She was having a baby, after all, she was going to put on a couple pounds herself.

Though, having Vegeta around probably meant that he made sure she ate a lot more to offset her morning sickness. The boy was trying not to act like it, but having Bulma like this put him on edge.

"Yeah," Bulma smiled, "We had a discussion and everything just seemed to work out for the better.

She wasn't going to mention the amazing make-up sex that was just what her hormones had been screaming for to her mother, but she seemed to figure it out herself. She and her mother spoke a little bit about what they were hoping for. Her mother wanted a little girl, but Bulma thought it might be better to have a boy.

"Don't tell Vegeta though," she rolled her eyes, "If anything, I might torture him one day with long winded ideas for having a girl."

"So, what are you going to name it if it is a boy?"

"Another thing you can't tell Vegeta," Bulma snickered, checking the window to quickly make sure the machine was on and in use, "I want to name it, if it is a boy, Vegeta."

"Really? Why not Trunks?"

"Cause, the first baby's name was Trunks, mom. I am not going to recycle the name. I am going to name it Vegeta if it is a boy because that's what all the first born of Vegeta's family is named. But I would probably will give him a nick name so not to confuse him with 'Geta. Like Vii or something."

"Okay, dear, if that is how you feel about it," Bunny shrugged," Then I am happy with it too."

Their conversation was interrupted by Bulma's cell phone ringing. It was Chichi's ring tone, so it was immediately answered.

"Hey Cheech," Bulma said, getting up to go into the other room.

"_Bulma, I am so glad that you answered,_" Chichi sounded distraught and a little worried.

"Hey, something the matter Chichi? Is Goku sick? Is someone hurt?" She thought of the worse if Chichi sounded upset.

_"What? No. No one is hurt B, but I need to talk to someone and you're the only one I consider a close girl friend."_

"Oh, alright, what's up Chichi?"

_"Bulma… I'm late…" _she said, giving emphasis to the word 'late'.

Bulma picked up the double meaning immediately, "You're late? By how long?"

_"Three weeks, maybe more, I was so caught up in sparring and helping Gohan with his forms that I just passed it off as stress…"_

"But you don't think it is?" Bulma guessed.

_"No. Goku was mentioning how I smelled different the other day and it just clicked. I let him and Gohan go off to a camping trip and I was hoping to drop by and visit and maybe go to the doctor's while I was there."_

Bulma was about to offer up Vegeta as her pregnancy test, since he had sensed it both times before she checked to see if she was pregnant. He was faster than a doctor and just as accurate. However, she wasn't sure Chichi wanted anyone to know besides Bulma.

"Sure. If you want, but I gotta warn you now, Vegeta isn't fond of visitors as of late."

Chichi sounded exasperated, _"And _why_ is that. Is he being a jerk again to you, cause if he is, after all you've-"_

"No Chi, he's not being a jerk to me, but I can't get more than a paper cut and he's all in my business as of late." She smiled as she broke the news to her confused friend, "Don't go spreading it around, but… I am for _sure_ pregnant."

There was a prolonged silence before Chichi finally said in a controlled tone, _"How long?"_

"Eight weeks," Bulma said.

_"Bulma! That's wonderful! Congratulations!"_

"And imagine if you are too? They could be playmates."

_"Just what I was thinking, though if you are trying to keep this quiet from the Z warriors, it might be a little hard to arrange play times."_

"We might as well wait to see what pans out. Plus, they won't really enjoy it until they are one or so, so we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. So, when should I expect you here?"

_"Tonight, hopefully. Just tell Vegeta that I will keep my business to myself and won't interrupt the two of you."_

"Oh, that reminds me," Bulma said, "I've moved out of my parents' house and into that old mansion that we had on the property. We just finished putting the guest bedroom together, and don't worry, its down the opposite wing. You won't bother anyone."

_"Alright then, I will see you tonight."_

"Bye Cheech."

Bulma hung up, smiling. She wasn't the only one that was expecting and it made her feel that much better about her journey into motherhood. Perhaps now her child could have a loyal companion in Goku and Chichi's child.

Things were looking up. She couldn't wait to find out their gender, but her date to see the doctor for her check-up (since she had been seeing the one in the med wing but he wasn't licensed to give her an official bill of health, even though he was always spot on) and see her baby for the first time.

* * *

"Vegeta, I _am_ going to my appointment," Bulma growled as she tried to slip past her very protective mate.

He was not budging. Not even a little bit and from the frown on his face and the way his arms were crossed stubbornly, she wasn't going anywhere soon. And it wasn't like she was able to slip out the back door since this was her room on the second floor. She was stuck till he moved.

It was now spring, slowly leaking into summer. She was 15 weeks into her pregnancy. Her child should be born sometime in July. Not that she wasn't hoping that her 10 or 12 weeks didn't pass quickly because even thought she was almost into her fourth month, this baby was _big_. If he wasn't going to move anytime soon, she was going to have to sit down.

"Vegeta," She tried again, being as calm as possible, "I have to get to the doctor's in time for my appointment."

"You are not getting into that contraption you call a car," Vegeta growled, his tail lashing behind him, "Do you not remember the last time you did while you were heavy with child?"

"Yes," she growled, trying to ignore the 'heavy' part the best she could, "And this time would be different. This time, _you'll_ be in the car."

She smirked at his surprised look before he hissed, "I will not even enter that slow contraption of yours. I'd sooner fly you there."

"Then fly me!" Bulma shouted, "I want to get to this appointment! Today's my ultrasound!"

The look he gave her told her that he had _no_ clue what an ultrasound was. She pressed her fingers into her temples and massaged them for a moment before she finally had to sit.

"It means that they use a sonogram, which takes sound and uses what the sound reflects off of to create an image. An ultrasound something usually pregnant woman use to see their baby without harming the baby."

"It'll give you an image of the whelp?" Vegeta was now curious.

"Yes," Bulma sighed, "And it can tell you the gender too."

That got his attention. He had been wondering if the child was male or female for a while. He tried to read its ki to find out, but the signal always came back mixed. Now he had a chance to finally know if he had a son or not.

"Alright, we will go to this stupid appointment, but I will fly you there and fly you home. No little detours. At. All."

"Not even to check on Chichi?" Bulma pouted.

Chichi had been right. She was pregnant and now was expecting shortly after Bulma was.

"No. I will no endure the idiotcy that is her mate."

He no longer absolutely detested Chichi… okay, he highly disliked the woman, but that was only because she was mated to Goku. Anything that had to do with Goku was like a deadly sin to Vegeta, though Bulma had a suspicion that he wasn't too enraptured with the idea of killing Goku anymore. Defeat, maybe; Kill, she didn't think so.

"Fine," Bulma pouted, crossing her arms and resting them on her large, swollen womb. "Just get me there."

It didn't take him long. He needed very little instruction since he had been forced to see Chichi there when she was getting a pregnancy test- even though he had _told_ her she was with another Kakarrott half-breed. So, this time when he flew, it was not just to make sure that their houseguest made it there, it was to go in with his mate.

"Now remember, Dr. Sonata is a good family friend, certified, and she has been taking care of the of Saiyans long before we even knew that's what they were. She's the one who delivered Gohan. Don't worry, she's trustworthy."

Vegeta just grunted as he landed, making sure that he was not seen as he did so and both of them entered the building. It was a small office, but it was nice. There was only one thing that he despised in the room, actually, and it was grinning at him like the cat that ate the canary.

"You sly dog. You were faster than I thought."

"Shut up Seigen mongrel."

"Genki? What are you doing here?" Bulma asked, greeting her old friend.

"Ah, Dr. Sonata wanted to give Sparrow a check up to see if everything was well. You see, Vegeta wasn't the only one who got a little busy during the holidays."

"Really? Sparrow is expecting already?"

"Actually," Genki said with a small laugh, "She was pregnant during Christmas."

"Seiyens have a month longer gestation period than Saiyans," Vegeta voiced in, standing next to Bulma and giving the man a glare.

"Vegeta," Bulma chided, hitting him lightly, "Be nice. Now I am going to sign in and they will probably give me my check up first. I will go in _alone_ and you will patiently wait out here till the ultrasound. Got it?"

The glare she had given him meant sleeping on the couch for a week without getting any. Something he could do, but really… he didn't want to. So he grunted, sitting a chair length away from Genki who seemed amused.

It wasn't until after Bulma had left did Genki say anything.

"You knocked her up real bad," he tsked with a light laugh.

"What do you mean, Seigen?" Vegeta asked in a low growl.

"You'll understand later today," Genki shrugged, "So guessing that since the whelp takes a lot of ki, that means you probably got over that little thing you had about touching pregnant woman, hmmm?"

"Just because I refused to touch your mother's large, disgusting stomach, doesn't mean I had a _thing_ about touching pregnant women." Vegeta rolled his eyes and tried to act indifferent.

_"You wouldn't touch your own mother when she was carrying Tarble after he began to kick,"_ Genki pointed out, speaking freely in the shared mother tongue.

_"Shut up mongrel."_ Vegeta spoke back to him, _"I do not wish to speak of this to you."_

Even though Genki knew better than to pursue a conversation with Vegeta, he persisted. _"Her ki has been different for a while. I noticed it the first time I saw her while you were there, shortly after your first's death."_

Vegeta's interest was immediately peaked at what Genki was saying. He could not ignore the mongrel prince now that he had mentioned that.

_"How so? I have sense a little difference in her, then again I am not a Seiyen."_ This was something vital. He was not about to insult Genki over something that had to do with Bulma.

_"Has things been well with her? Or has something occurred?"_

Vegeta struggled for a moment, deciding whether to confine in the other male, but finally his curiosity for what Genki knew won over. Genki's people, after all were much more sensitive to ki and the changes that occurred around them and where scholars and healers to boot.

_"She has been seeing visions of days old. Not of her own life, but of the Saiyan's history. I even had to teach her the words of the unspoken."_

Genki blinked in surprise, _"A seer? And no doubt if she has spoken the words that means she must have met Evangeline Vegiit. Does she know how to control it?"_

Vegeta grumbled, shifting slightly, wondering when either he could leave or when Genki's mate would save him from this. _"She speaks little about it. She draws and paints well enough though. However, she seems to withdraw into her self when she does such."_

_"Of course! She probably doesn't remember her dreams all too well. It's like a blur for her of memories! Vegeta! You know my mother was a seer. She had to _write_ down the what she had seen less she forget it in a moment of surprise or she became overwhelmed with her duties. Bulma probably does not remember until she is in a calm state of mind."_

Vegeta almost slapped himself in the head for forgetting that the Seiyen Queen was a seer. Genki was raised around it and no doubt knew more that even Vegeta did.

"I can teach her, you know, but that means that we get together and such." Genki offered, "I could teach her to control it after your child's birth when she no longer has someone dependent on her ki and maybe you and I could spar ever now and again, even before the birth."

"Spar? With you? That'll be a pathetic match."

"I am a Seiyen. I fight using ki manipulation. Something that would be a good learning experience for both of us. I haven't had a sparring partner since the fall of our kingdoms. Come on Vegeta. I know you and I have a strange relationship, but for the sake of the alliance we use to have, can we get along? I would like my kid to have a playmate that he can't kill on accident. It's going to be hard enough watching Sparrow with my job as it is."

"Hmph," Vegeta snorted, giving into the idea, "For the sake of my brat not having to play with Kakarrott's new unborn. I rather it has a intelligent foe to beat upon."

"That's the Saiyan I know," Genki chuckled, standing a moment before his wife emerged.

She greeted Vegeta, to which he nodded, but was led out by her husband who didn't want Vegeta to re-decide his verdict. But because he was the Seiyen he was, and his ki senses much stronger than Vegeta's, he quickly leaned back into the door way and spoke on last phrase in their mother tongue.

_"Have fun with your twins."_ And was out of there before Vegeta's could register anything more.


	17. Chapter 17

Hey everyone!

... Hi? Don't be mad! I had a plot bunny attack me and I am working on that one, though I think I will finish it before I _ever_ post it. It's an interesting idea and my roommate says it might be the most interesting out there idea she has ever read. I think it might just be out there and strange, but you know me! ^_^ I like to think of myself as a pioneer of madness.

BUT you didn't click this to hear me ramble on and on and on about some story that is not going to be appearing for a while. You came here for this chapter. I had finished it a while ago, but I was told it was a little rushed... so I tried to edit it a little. There is a time skip, as there is going to be in the next chapter because... really... babies are not all that fun at first. (Trust me, I know some people adore babies but writing about babies is quiet boring it they aren't bigger).

So, enough rambles!

I really hope you'll enjoy.

* * *

**_The Setting Sun_**

Chapter 17

_The Heir and Valor_

* * *

**Disclaimer: will never own DBZ...**

* * *

Twins. The idea still haunted him, even in his sleep. He laid awake now watching the woman sleep beside him, her swollen stomach larger now than it had been when the doctor confirmed the Seiyen prince's comment. The woman didn't complain often, but he could see that this pregnancy was taking its toll on her. She was retaining water, her hands were swollen as well as her feet, and her womb extended her once flat stomach so much that it hurt her to cough or sneeze or even have a jerk reaction. But that wasn't what concerned him the most. She was a big girl and could handle these things herself. The fact remained though that there were two in there and he wasn't sure whether it was an exciting thought or frightening one.

The one that no doubt made him stop and his stomach twist was the fact that he not only sired a heir, a male who would be his first born son and heir to his title, but a little princess as well. He had sired a little girl and it terrified him more than it should. He was the prince of all Saiyans and he feared nothing!

Except for the little ones in his mate's womb. A boy he knew what to do with, but a girl? His mother was not the typical female, most weren't as… violent as she was. Most female Royals were more interested in the affairs of the kingdom than smashing someone's face in. What if the little one hated fighting? Then what was he suppose to do with her? He sighed, pulling himself out of the bed. If he was not going to sleep, he might as well ready himself for when Genki came. The two of them had been sparring at least three times a week and his mate was good company for Bulma. She kept her out of trouble and kept the woman's dame very, very busy (which kept the crazy blonde away from him).

He silently got ready, but lately Bulma's tenants had become more in tune to his ki and when he suddenly left, they would move more. It surprised him that they never kicked, just pressed themselves against the woman more times than she would like, especially when one of them rested on her bladder. It was like they could sense their mother's fragility and kept from hurting her.

"You getting up now Vegeta?" came the quiet murmur of the woman as she opened a bleary, sleepy eye.

"Hn," he grunted, trying to ready himself for a warm up.

"It's three in the morning Vegeta." She said, her voice thick from sleep as she patted the vacant side of the bed, "Don't be ridiculous, get up at your usual time."

"What's the point? I am not sleeping. It's a waste of time, valuable training time." Vegeta grunted, trying to move towards the dresser.

"Two weeks time is very short, isn't it?" Her voice made him pause.

Blast the woman, she always seemed to know what was on his mind. She patted the empty spot on the bed again.

"Lie back down Vegeta. You need to rest. I know you haven't been sleeping lately."

Vegeta sighed, giving into her only because he knew the whelps would be restless until he neared again. He gave a growl as he laid down, trying not to notice how easily his mate fell asleep again. She was exhausted, that much he knew. The pups took more and more ki each day and was draining her of her small supply.

He rested his palm upon her womb, remembering a time when his hand would smoother it in its mass, now barely covered any of it. Slowly he transferred his ki, almost feeling the way their ki snatched at whatever he was offering and the whelps vibrating their ki in gratitude.

If he could not sleep, he could still at least help the woman carry his brats. That or he might never hear the end of it. After all, it did take her an hour to calm down after the ultrasound, blaming him and his 'Saiyan' sperm for all her woes. Her dame was as happy as could be though. If anything, she cooked some of the better meals she knew to celebrate.

He never even noticed when his eyes began to droop and his head began to sink until he was fast asleep.

* * *

"Oh, is that all the Prince of all Saiyans has got?" Genki teased as he swiftly moved out of the way of his opponent's fist, "I thought you could turn legendary or something?"

"Does that mouth of yours ever just _shut up_? Or do you talk through everything?"

"I don't know," Genki laughed, putting in some distance, "You'll have to ask Sparrow about that one. She is the one, after all, who sees all sorts of sides to me."

"He doesn't talk if you keep his mouth busy, but you don't look like you're the type to kiss a man, Vegeta." Sparrow called out from her spot on the porch that Bulma and she were watching from.

Both woman cracked up at the distasteful look their mates gave each other.

"I thought we talked about keeping our sex life a secret!"

"No, don't just talk about it, actually _keep_ your sex life a secret! I don't want to hear about it!"

Genki smiled mischievously as the two of them went back to fighting each other, "Why? Afraid of knowing any good moves in bed?"

"Trust me," Bulma called out, just as Vegeta was about to hit, "He's plenty good. Not as flexible as you are, Genki, but enough. You should see what he can do with his tail."

Missing his opponent entirely, Vegeta spun around to angrily shout at his mate, "WOMAN!"

Genki, on the other hand, was making disgusted looks and dry heaving a little, "B, that is _way_ too much information! Ugh! I really don't want those images in my head."

"Okay, okay," Bulma said, waving her hand dismissively as she and Sparrow tried to catch their breaths from laughing so hard, "We'll keep to ourselves. You boys just go back to beating each other senseless."

"Sure, if Mr. Saiyan can hit me that is," Genki teased, immediately in good spirits again.

And both men where back at it. They would blur on occasion, but they had decided to keep it down since Bulma and Sparrow were there. Both of them were already on edge about the upcoming events and did not wish to hurt or surprise them in their current state.

However, even with a ki level restriction, both men were going at with much grace and poise. Both fought with different techniques, but had a primal and elegant look to their skills. Vegeta was more like a tiger. He was a powerhouse that was precise and tactical. If one way didn't work, he tried another. He was swift, fast on his feet, and if a punch made contact, was lethal.

Genki was more like a mixture of a cheetah and a panther. He was faster, more flexible, and even though he used his ki manipulation to balance out the fight, he made up for his lack of power with cunning and deadly precision.

The difference between the two races was evident as they fought, but their similarities also evident.

It was addicting to watch their graceful bouts in the backyard grass.

Soon Sparrow had to excuse herself to the bathroom, her bladder being squash as her little boy wriggled inside her. Bulma watched for a while, but soon heard her phone ring inside.

"Vegeta, I'm going in to answer that," Bulma called, only getting a grunt before Genki was thrown across the grass from the aggressive kick to his ribs.

"Make it fast woman, or you might miss me beating this mongrel senseless."

Genki was slowly getting up, spitting out some blood that had risen from his throat, "You will pay for that, you warmongering fiend."

"Warmongering fiend? Tell me that is not the best that the Seiyen prince has to offer me? Or were your people too soft for their own good." Vegeta taunted.

Bulma rolled her eyes as she hefted herself up and slowly made it to the phone, but not before hearing Genki's retort.

"At least I don't have a simple minded moron that's stronger than me as my last full-blooded subject. And what's worse is that he didn't even _know_ he was a Saiyan, let alone suppose to be violent."

If the panicked cry from Genki's lips didn't tell her of her mate's response, she didn't know what would. She finally found the phone, ignoring the indignant cries about Genki's broken arm and answered.

After a really short conversation, she had discovered it was her father. He was in need of her to help him with a internal glitch for a pet project of hers that _only_ she knew inside and out. It was a present to Vegeta, for what, she still did not know, but it was a house not far from theirs that was totally redesigned to be a gravity room, well more like a gravity house, but she would always call it the GR.

She decided it wasn't too far and since it wasn't cold anymore, she could just walk over to the house. It was the next one over and yet that silly Saiyan out there that was currently torturing the only person in all the galaxies other than Goku that would come within ten feet of her prince didn't even realize it. And though both men _refused_ to admit it, they were the close friends.

"Bulma, where are you going?" She heard Sparrow ask, coming back from her potty trip.

"Oh, just a house over. My dad is using it as a lab for now and needs my help. Something's not working out right and he needs me to tinker with it for him." Bulma told her without making it sound too important, because it wasn't.

"Okay," Sparrow said with a little concern, "Be careful though B, I know you and 'little projects' are usually not that little."

"What's the worst that could happen?" Bulma laughed, waving her off and heading over slowly.

* * *

Now when she had made that remark, she really didn't think it would come back to bite her right on the butt. Right now, she would give _anything_ to be in a different situation with different people. But no. She was now locked into a room that could not be disarmed for another 21… 20(?) hours.

And what was worse was she had been sent, on pure accident, into labor…

With only Vegeta and Genki in the shut down GR house with her.

It had been innocent too. It had all started out normal, just like any little kinks her father called her in for. She had just gotten in the door when her father had greeted her, telling her the situation that they were having and explaining what improvements he had made to the machine.

"So, basically, I used your ki shield, improving it so it just kept Vegeta from damaging the walls and allowing his ki to leave the training area, we don't need accidents like last time, do we dear?"

"No, certainly not," Bulma laughed, following her father into the main room, "Even so, if Vegeta accidently hit the right frequency, the shield will drop regardless."

"Yes, well I thought of that, so I made it so there was at least fifteen layers that made sure he couldn't blow them all out. The machine will repair the overload and then turn that layer of the shield back on."

"Very smart dad," Bulma smiled, only to frown, "But wouldn't that make it dangerous if he fry's the computer system and it traps him in here?"

"Oh, no, dear," Her father shook his head, "I have a override code I'll teach him. Then if that ever happens, he'll be able to get out."

"Good thinking dad. Now, where is this glitch?"

"It's near the security lockdown motherboard, which is very temperamental at this time. The code is unchangeable unless a new motherboard is put on, but the wires are touchy. My hands aren't small enough to reach one of the last boards that needs to be checked without putting the room into lockdown dozens of times. That and I know you wanted to finished this up as soon as possible. This is the last board and it will be operational after some testing. I thought you might want to finish it up since it was your idea. That and I your mother and I will be gone for the rest of today and tomorrow until around noon to a convention."

"Really? Where you going?" Bulma asked, slowly sitting down near the open panel.

"Somewhere tropical. It has a bit of unknown weather and bad reception, even for your mother's prized phones, so there will be no reaching us. Plus, the place has a ban on phones."

"Alright. Well, leave me be, I'll be doing this for a while." Bulma waved him off, taking her tools that her father had placed out for her, "You and mom have fun though."

"We will dear," Her father told her before leaving.

She didn't know how long it had been since she had began to work on the project. Her expert fingers easily moving around the wires and working only on the last motherboard that needed some adjustments and one last check on its wirings, but Bulma had been absorbed by her work.

She had never noticed when two of the three people she had been spending her day with had snuck up on her. Even though she had registered the smell of the strange smoky smell that Genki carried and the masculine smell of Vegeta that was strong after a good workout, she couldn't help but jump at his voice.

"Woman, what in Kami's name are you doing?" It was demanding, after all, she wasn't suppose to be working in labs or fiddling with gadgets that could cause her harm.

It had been so little of a jump, but her hand had moved significantly and bumped one of the live wires that connected to the motherboard, getting a strong shock before the shields threw themselves up and the doors auto locked.

It was only then that she had realized that her father was the only one with the code and heaven only knew how far away from home he was now. Probably mid-flight on a plane.

She cursed as she pulled her hand back, feeling an unexpected kick from her startled tenants against her flesh. She took a moment to gasp for air, just grateful he or she had missed her ribs with that kick.

Vegeta and Genki at her side immediately.

"What's wrong, onna?"

"Just a kick," she breathed, "but hell if that doesn't leave a decent sized bruise."

"Hey, B. I know I should be worried about your welfare, but…what was that click? And the dozen or so ki walls that have erect themselves?"

"That," Bulma breathed out, "Would be the auto lock… and the ki walls… well, those are ki _shields_."

This time it was Vegeta asking the questions. "Onna," he grounded out, trying to keep his temper with his _very_ pregnant wife, "Why did you install a dozen or so_ ki_ shields to a house?"

Bulma didn't like the tone he was taking, not after that jolt of electricity and kick she had received. Especially when this was a gift to _him_.

"Because that way I know you won't blow up the new freaking GR." Bulma snarled.

Both men stared at her in surprise.

"GR?" Genki questioned, "Like Vegeta's stinky little capsule outside your parent's yard?"

"You built me a freaking GR in a _house_?"

"Well yeah!" Bulma roared, "What do you think my dad was doing for me? Building a _tree house_? No. I had him building this. He was almost done, just need my hands to finish up the last board since the security motherboard is still temperamental."

"Is there a code to get out of here at least?" Genki asked, his stomach sinking at the thought of spending time with the two temperamental mates.

"Yes," Bulma said, Vegeta finally pulling her up. Genki sighed in relief. Once she caught her breath though, she continued, "But currently my dad is the only one who knows it." Genki could feel his hopes sinking along with Vegeta's when she finished with, "And he's currently away on a trip. No doubt in a no call zone, possibly on a plane."

Both men groaned. They were stuck here.

"Well the good news is that the upstairs has a bed and small rest area if Vegeta ever wanted to take a break and relax while still using the gravity." Bulma said with a weak smile, "And I think he had put food in the cupboards as well."

"Well at least that gives us _something_ to do." Genki muttered, touching his arm that had been splinted, "But lug head here decided to break my arm, so there goes sparring as entertainment."

"You Seiyens heal abnormally faster than even Saiyans. You'll be fine," Vegeta snorted, taking Bulma's arm and pulling her roughly to him, "I still want to know what was going through your head agreeing to something so asinine when you know you could have finished it _after_ the brats have been born."

Bulma immediately went on the defense, "Look, you jerk! I was trying to make something nice for you to use so you could stay nearby and not trudge all the way over to my parents' house!"

"They aren't even a minute's flight away from here! What's the point, Onna?" Vegeta bellowed, "I could have waited!"

At this point, Genki covered his ears as both went into a yelling match, screaming things at each other that had no real importance whatsoever. He really tried to calm both of them down, but if anything, the two of them got louder.

"I was just trying to do something nice!" Bulma screamed, her fists tightening at her sides.

"I don't need you to do me any favors woman," Vegeta snarled.

"Fine! I won't do another thing for _you_ then!"

"That's just fine with me, Onna!"

Bulma quickly threw one of the tools she had on her at his head before stomping upstairs. Vegeta easily caught the thing, but still roared her name angrily up the stairs.

" Stupid wench," Vegeta muttered as he headed up the stairs as well since using the gravity was impossible with his mate in there.

Genki sighed. He knew that Vegeta was only concerned for Bulma. Since after all, Saiyans and Seiyens senses went on overdrive when the female was with child. Possessiveness and overprotective attributes were suddenly being maxed out during the long months. Believe him, he knew how Vegeta felt when it came to Sparrow doing stupid little stunts like trying to climb a ladder with something heavy. He nearly had had a heart attack.

When he finally went upstairs, the two were sitting in the same room, Bulma lying on the coach and staring at the back of it, moping no doubt for being scolded like a child, and Vegeta was sitting in the single, arms crossed, and glaring at her.

Well… this was better than the screaming match, Genki decided before entering the room all the way and looking about. He explored the area, discovering that there were still two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a small kitchen. Dr. Briefs must have add the second bedroom for guests like Genki, who were sparring Vegeta.

Finding he was hungry, he headed into the kitchen and looked about for food. He had just finished making himself some ramen to munch on slowly when he came back into the room, a strange spike alerting him that something was not right.

Vegeta was hovering over Bulma anxiously, his tail flicking back and forth as he examined her. Immediately ditching his food, Genki was right next to Vegeta looking down worriedly at his cousin. Her face had become pale and she was holding her stomach as if in pain, a layer a sweat on her face as she tried to ride the pain out.

"What's going on?" He asked, hoping Vegeta would know.

Vegeta got down on his knees to be at height with Bulma as she laid there, trying hard not to let on how much she was hurting. Tenetively, he put his hand onto of her swollen belly and sucking in a heavy breath as his expression grew to one of shock.

Genki could sense the sudden transfer of a large amount of ki from Vegeta's hand to the womb. The pups had accosted their father's ki without even waiting for it to be offered. Bulma let out a cry of pain as she curled further upon herself.

"I… I think they are st-still spooked from… the jolt I received… from touching the live wires," Bulma managed to tell them, trying to smile a bit as she laid there, "It's… it's nothing…"

"You sure?" Genki asked.

Something was wrong with her ki. They pups were more than just panicked. Panic would have lightened after a bit, but Bulma's little pups were still sending out a thrum of ki that was more like-

His train of thought was cut off by the pained cry as his sudden thought came true. She had gotten herself so worked up that she had finally crossed the thin ki line that would throw her into labor. Her pups worried over her state of distress and panicking. Vegeta jumped back suddenly at the loud noise as his mate tried to curl up even more.

Vegeta snapped his attention to the other prince, his eyes narrowing as he looked at him with guarded eyes. Genki could feel the distress of his ki though.

"What's wrong with her?" He barked, his tail slashing back and forth.

Sometimes it was a curse to be so in tuned with ki. Genki sighed as his own tail slithered out of its confines, "She's going into labor."

"WHAT!" Both yelled, looking at him startled.

"You heard me!" Genki said just as distressed as them, "Bulma's ki was unstable the moment she touched those wires and you two arguing didn't help the pups calm down, just sent them into more of a state of panic. Your arguing has flared her ki so much that they are trying to get out."

"But she was suppose to have them in two weeks!" Vegeta yelled.

He was not ready for this moment.

"This can't be happening," Bulma whimpered as a sudden contraction hit her hard.

There was a sudden feeling of wet, startling Vegeta.

"That would be her water." Genki sighed, running his fingers through his hair.

"Great." Vegeta growled.

"Please tell me there is a way to avoid this," Bulma whimpered as she looked at Genki hopefully.

He didn't look her in the eye as he shook his head. There was nothing he could do. Even with his ki manipulation, the best he could do for her was the numb the pain as the two tried to pass down her canal.

"Alright," Bulma swallowed, "Then does at least _one_ of you know what to do?"

"Shut up woman and work on that annoying breathing technique you forced me to learn with you," Vegeta snapped, placing her on the bed before glaring at Genki, "You. Come with me."

Genki didn't argue. He and Vegeta hastily retreated out of Bulma's hearing range before Vegeta crossed his arms and gave him a serious look.

"If memory serves, Royal Seiyens have to participate in immediate family whelpings, correct?"

Genki sputtered, rearing backwards, "What! No! This is _not_ my kid! These are _yours_ and if _my_ memory serves right, _you_ are suppose to deliver your own brats _personally_."

"That was the king, not the prince," Vegeta said, his face looking slightly mortified at the thought. "I have no idea what is to take place anyways."

"And your father did?" Genki questioned, "I was around when Tarble was born. I know I heard your father talking about it all being instinctual. He was bragging about how _you_ were delivered. He said he relied on his instincts to handle your whelping! Plus! Just because you're forever a prince didn't mean you got out of it if Vegeta-sei _survived_!"

"Well she is not a Saiyan, is she?" Vegeta bared his teeth, his pupils narrowing into cat like slits, "My mother was sturdy, not at all frail like the woman! Your people were more into medicine and anatomy. Were you not trained as a healer?"

"Yes," Genki huffed, "For the first five years of my life, just like you were trained to be a warrior prince. Five years, Vegeta. That is not long enough to learn all the secrets of the Seiyen healing techniques."

"But that wouldn't have stopped you." Vegeta called him out. "The smokes you use are proof enough of your self taught education. That was a potent mixture that _your_ people made that was said to hide the more powerful smell of pheromones a small portion of your males had, like _you_."

Darn it. Genki sighed in defeat. Vegeta was too keen for Genki's health. Yes. He had studied his peoples texts and installed a large amount of their medical knowledge into his communication chip and as much as he could into a scouter before leaving his planet the final time. He knew, just never put any of it into practice other than his massages.

"I watched the births of the twins and the quadruplets." He surrendered, "I will be able to keep them from hurting her. You will have to be the one that delivers though. I can only help so much. Remember, your people do this in private with only one Saiyan other than the pregnant female."

Before Vegeta even had a chance to refute the bargain, Bulma had decided to voice her opinion.

"I really don't care _what_ you two are talking about, but _one_ of you better get back in here and do something about this," She yelled angrily, "and it better be the one _responsible_ for this or he is sleeping on the couch for the rest of his life."

"Fine." Vegeta growled under his breath, glaring as he realized Genki might have gotten the better end of the deal. However, before he let it go, he decided to add one more statement about something that had just sunk in.

"Did your mother _ever_ give birth to a normal amount of children," Vegeta asked, slightly in awe of the mass amount of siblings Genki had.

He had only ever met Genki and maybe one of his sister or two… or maybe he had met more, but thought them the same person.

"You're talking to the only one to be born a single _and_ be the only male in the family other than my father," Genki rolled his eyes, opening to door back to the room Bulma was in.

"No wonder you're queer." Vegeta sneered before entering the room. He was not pleased with the outcome, but preferred assistance instead of handling this blind. Still, he would never admit it, but he didn't want Genki near his mate's nether regions.

Genki rolled his eyes again, "Shut up. I'll get the hot water, the towels, and see if I can't contact Sparrow and tell her what's going on."

Vegeta grunted as he approached Bulma, thinking of how to handle this. If they were on Vegeta-sei, the gravity would have assisted the process, even if the female as tilted slightly. Here, the gravity was weaker and she would have to be at a full stand to even attempt get either child out.

Bulma looked livid upon seeing him. She had been left there to handle her situation for several minutes now and was beyond pissed and was in pain. She bared her teeth much like a female Saiyan would and gave Vegeta a glare that would make a human male shiver in fear.

"Oh, now you decide to grace me with your _presence_," she snarled, holding tight onto her womb, "What would the honor be for? Definitely not because I am in **_LABOR_**!"

"Shut up Onna. The only thing I want to hear from you is your breathing exercise and the screams of our brats when they take their first gulp of air." Vegeta growled at her, pulling her up to stand, "Brace yourself on my shoulders. We'll use the gravity to pull them out faster."

"You. _YOU_ are going to **_WHAT_**? No. No, no, no, no, no. _No_. You are not going to deliver my children!" Bulma yelled as she tried to pull away, Vegeta's grip too strong for her though.

"Who did you think was going to do it? That old fat man in the red suit that breaks into people's houses every year? Or perhaps the stork?"

Bulma grew red in the face as she gave a withering glare to him. She wished her mother never told him about Santa Claus or about the stork!

Another wave of pain jolted down her stomach and she tried not to cry, "I don't know if I can do this Vegeta, I was suppose to have a C-section, remember?"

Vegeta grunted as he pulled her jeans and underwear down, glad that she was wearing one of those almost-a-dress-but-too-short-to-actually-be-a-dress shirt that he could never remember what they were actually called.

"I remember, Onna," Vegeta told her, "But that isn't an option anymore, unless you don't mind I or the mongrel cutting you open. We have nothing to sew you back together either, so you'd just spill blood and guts everywhere. I don't think so."

"Prick." Bulma growled, tears in her eyes as she leaned further on Vegeta, her knees where weakening because of the pain, "Can't you be more sympathetic?"

"Next time you want pups, remember not to get me involved," Vegeta groused, looking up to see how far she dialated.

He was not at all happy with having to do this, and currenly Bulma was not all to happy with his answer.

Genki had really a hard time telling Sparrow what was going on for a while, only because of the loud, frequent shouts against Vegeta and his manhood. Though, not only did she threaten his dangly bits, but also his tail. Genki was glad when Sparrow finally got the message and tried to get in contact with Dr. Briefs.

Bulma spent the next few hours with two males, neither really knowing what to do other than what they could instinctually react to. Vegeta had been surprised at times when she actually dug her nails deep enough to made him bleed profusely from the gashes she was making with her grip. Genki tried to alleviate her pain through his ki manipulation and acupuncture, but even he could only do so much.

When there was a long period of time between contractions, Vegeta would cradle her on his lap, keeping his hand on her womb to feel her next contraction and to give the pups more ki. Genki wouldn't be around these quiet moments between mates. Vegeta would sing to her the same lullaby she had seemed to fallen in love with.

After almost 12 hours, the first child crowned and Vegeta quickly assisted in pulling the rest of the baby out. It was his son. A few wisps of hair that would fall out and re-grow later. He wouldn't know the color of his son's hair till later, nor his eye color. All Saiyans eyes never settled till the first month.

He quickly used his teeth to cut then tied the umbilical cord before handing his son to Genki, giving him a warning glare as he turned to pull out his daughter who seemed to follow almost immediately.

"Well if he isn't a fine specimen of human and Saiyan DNA," Genki noted as he appraised the boy.

He didn't expect it until it was too late. He sighed as he held the little one at a distance, glaring at Vegeta. "Yep. He's _your_ son alright. You peed on me the first time we met too."

Vegeta chuckled even thought that moment was not the time for jokes. So what if he peed on Genki the first time they met? He thought the strong smell covered up the powerful scent of Genki quite well. He always did hate how Genki smelled. It attracted too much trouble with the Royal females of the palace and too much of his own mother's attention.

As soon as the aftermath was taken care of, Bulma was laid back upon the couch to rest. Genki handed Bulma her son while he took care of the clean up. Vegeta was still taking care of his little girl and the aftermath.

"You've done well woman," Vegeta told her after he had finished cleaning up his daughter.

Bulma was surprised how quiet the babies were. Yet Chichi had told her that Gohan was a very quiet baby. Perhaps it was because they were observing their surroundings? The little boy made a little gurgle noise before finding her breast, snuggling into it until he found a food source. Her daughter was still being held by Vegeta and she looked almost drowsy in his embrace. Bulma couldn't blame her. Vegeta was like a hot water bottle, something that just easily soothed her to sleep.

"You are just _lucky_ I can't move right now," she groaned as she tiredly held her son.

"Perhaps," he grinned cockily. "But knowing you, you will be begging for me again in no time, so you could never live up to all those well spoken threats."

"Shut up Vegeta," Bulma said with a tired whimper.

She had done so well. She had delivered both children without any real problem. Vegeta didn't know if anyone of her frailty could do the same. Kakarrot's mate, perhaps, but not if she was just like Bulma ki wise. She deserved a gift for her strength.

Bulma was nudged just as she had dozed off by Vegeta. She was about to ask, but he motioned the baby boy in her arms whose tail had wrapped around her forearm as he snuggled into her for warmth, done for now with his small meal. Genki was still hunting down blankets to be used.

"Name him," Vegeta grunted, allowing her his honor of naming the first born.

Her eyes widened as she watched him for a moment, her gaze softening as she let a tired smile grace her lips.

"Vegeta," she said.

"Yes?"

She let out a little giggle and shook her head. "No. His name. It's Vegeta. But we'll call him Vii until its not confusing."

Vegeta looked at Bulma in gratitude. She would never know how much it meant to him to at least continue his family name into the next generation, even if it would be a start of a new race of humanoids. Vegeta was a very old tradition and he was glad to see it passed down in case he did not make it. However, it made him want to triumph over his told destiny even more.

"Alright Onna," Vegeta finally said, keeping a tone of indifference, "then he shall be called Vegeta the 28th, or Vii until he is old enough to take on the title of head of the household."

"Okay," Bulma smiled, "Now how about you name that little girl that is snuggling happily into daddy's arms."

Vegeta blushed as he looked at her doe eyes and noticed their muddled silver grey color. That would change within the month. She had her mother's alabaster skin, unlike her brother who had his rich olive color and he could see his mate in her deeply. She was so beautiful. He had no name picked out for her, but a name came un-summoned from his lips.

"Yuuki."

"Valor and courage?" Bulma translated it, testing it out on her tongue. She smiled as she looked at her little girl, "Yeah. She looks very much like a Valor. Yuuki it is."

Bulma yawned, her eyes suddenly drooping. Vegeta took this as the hint to back away, picking up Vii who fussed at being torn away from mommy. Genki was wary as he picked helped Vegeta wrap them up in blankets. The sooner that brat had diapers, the better.

Bulma was out the rest of the time.

* * *

The sound of crying was what awakened her. It was dark, the night lit by the stars. She felt drained and sluggish, but her consciousness told her that she was not where she had fallen asleep.

"Your sire gave the mongrel's mate the code as soon as she got a hold of him at his hotel. Your parents will be here in the morning." Vegeta's voice muttered against her neck.

He was lying next to her, holding her against him protectively.

"Who's crying?" Bulma croaked, trying to get up, but to no prevail.

"The boy."

"Then why aren't you getting him? Vegeta, what if he's hungry or wet or something? Babies have to eat constantly in order to survive." Bulma explained, turning to face Vegeta.

"He's not hungry. He's not in need of being changed. He is restless. Saiyans were born to be nocturnal. He will learn that he will not get his way and quiet down."

"But-"

There were so many questions in her head. How come her babies were not crying for food. They were Saiyans, were they not? Gohan ate a lot as a babe according to Chichi. Why was Vii crying if he was alright?

"I fed them. He just wants _you_."

He fed them? Bulma blinked, wondering how he must have done that, but remembered all those months ago when she wouldn't eat. He had _fed_ her. But how would their stomachs handle the food? She almost slapped her head. Of course, her babies where demi-Saiyans. They probably could digest the food.

She listened to him cry a few minutes more before squirming again.

"Vegeta," she finally said, "Can't he just sleep in here tonight? Just tonight?"

Vegeta peered down at her with tired eyes. She must have slept a long time if he was so exhausted. But he had a long day too. He had been sparring, delivering twins, and no doubt holding and taking care of the two since Sparrow couldn't lift and Genki had already been peed on.

"Fine," He grunted, getting up. "The boy can sleep here tonight. But tonight _only_."

"And Yuuki too?"

She heard him sigh before grunting, "And the little princess."

Bulma smirked.


	18. Chapter 18

Hey everyone!

Miss me? I am so sorry. I have been on LiveJournal at Maddie-san's Black and Blue Bulma/Vegeta community while I was having writer's block writing anything to do with this story and well... we won't go into the other one I am pretty much reluctant to sit in front of... Let me finish this one before I think of going back to one of my other stories (Or other pet projects that none of you know about yet).

Oh, and I've been kept busy by midterms and books (Finished reading the Howl's Moving Castle series finally!). Since it seems all my favorite writers are busy with their own little lives, I decided to update. It has been too long since I've received a review (though I got my first flame the other day for an older story... they misspelt all their insults and had bad grammar. I laughed before deleting it. Hourse isn't a word ^^ and this is fanfiction. It's free, so don't complain about free reading.)

So, enough rambles!

I really hope you'll enjoy.

* * *

**_The Setting Sun_**

Chapter 18

_Time_

* * *

**Disclaimer: will never own DBZ...**

* * *

"Oh no you don't," Bulma giggled as she caught the little boy that tried to escape her, pulling him up to rest on her hip, "You are in desperate need of a bath, Vii."

The little boy looked at his mother in horror. He was barely a few months over a year, but he sure well knew what the word 'bath' meant for more than half his life.

"No bath, momma," He shook his head, giving her a pleading gaze, "No bath!"

"Yes bath," Bulma said as she kissed his grubby cheek, "You are filthy lil' mister and this time I can't even blame your father."

"Karasu's fault!" Vii whined as he tired to break free.

He was as gentle as he could be. His momma, he had realized when he had been barely able to run, was easily hurt by him when he crashed into her or struggled against her. He didn't know exactly how old he was when he had realized it (it was before he could count, that much he knew) but he had been careful with momma ever since.

"Come on baby," his mother said in a sad tone, catching his attention, "Don't you want to bathe with momma?"

Vii suddenly stilled. Usually he had to bath with Poppa, who would scrub him down with a practiced hand. Poppa always was fast, thorough, and didn't care if it was uncomfortable for him. Yuuki was usually the one who got to bathe with Momma since Poppa never wanted to. When Momma did make him wash her, his face always turned pink as he stood there holding Yuuki an arms length away like she was the plague.

He smiled happily as he easily twisted himself to face his momma, his hands clapping, carefully keeping to himself, "O'tay momma!"

Bulma smiled at her son, he was over a year old and he was so smart! Her daughter was nothing to scoff at either. Both were so smart and she could hardly believe that they had been in her life so long already. Everyday was an adventure with the two, both excelling in areas that human babies didn't develop until later. Her children could sit up and look around after an hour of being born, they could follow something with their eyes on the same day. By the end of their first month, they could roll over, respond to stimulus, and giggle and laugh. By four months they were walking and by five, they could run.

Saiyan children were far more developed than human children and hers were just demi-Saiyans. Vii had known his numbers up to fifty by the time he was eight months old and Yuuki could count to seventy. She was almost sad how fast they grew up, but Vegeta continually reminded her that they would be her shadow for many years to come.

She smiled as she thought of Vegeta. He was cautious at first, especially with Yuuki. Vii was a boy. He knew of boys, but Yuuki was a girl and he had been very careful around her. Now he was comfortable with both his children, but there was a time when she had to yank his tail to get him to hold one after she had recovered from her experience.

Slowly she made her way to the bathroom, holding her very dirty child as she began to fill the tub with warm water. He held still while she quickly washed off most of the mud before letting the bath fill. She could hear Vii's little happy gasp when she made a grab for the bubble bath. He loved to marvel at the things.

"So," Bulma began, slowly stripping herself and Vii when the bathtub was full, "How did you and Karasu end up looking like mud puppies?"

"Karasu's fault," Vii told her again, helping strip himself of his muddied cloths and almost dive into the water.

He pulled his head up and watched his mother with his tail wagging in excitement as she joined him. She smiled at him as she sat down in the tub and pulled him into her lap.

"So I've heard," she said with a low chuckle, "But that is not what I asked. _How_ was the question."

Vii wiggled a little on her lap. His momma was super smart. She _always_ knew the truth. Uncle Genki told him so. He had once whispered to him about how his mother could See things from the past. He bit his lip as he tried to come forth with the truth since she _already _knew.

"Tryin' to be like Poppa, 'cept no know how to use ki…" He wiggled a bit as he mother finished for him.

"So you used mud instead?"

"T'at or rocks." Vii shrugged, giving her their other idea that they had decided against, "Rocks hurt more."

"And where was your sister in all of this?" Bulma asked, trying not to laugh at her son's silliness.

"Playin' wit' Asahi n' Tsukiyo."

"Was she being nice to them?" Bulma asked, a little worried about her ever faithful companions.

Ever since they had been little puppies, they usually followed her everywhere. They kept her company when she was at work or alone in the house while Vegeta was staying up late training as the days came closer and closer. Yuuki loved the dogs, but sometimes Bulma still worried over how careless toddler hands could be. Yuuki was careful, but still there was the rare moments where she lost her cautiousness.

"Yep," Vii nodded, "T'ey were givin' her rides."

Though they barely came to her or Vegeta's knees, the two were strong little buggers who didn't mind the weight of a baby.

"Does sister remember that she can't do that much more?" Bulma asked, startling to wash his hair as they talked.

Vii paused to think, "Yes."

Bulma relaxed as she finished washing the stubborn raven locks of her son's hair. His eyes peered about before the sky blue eyes landed on something at the door. He jumped a bit and gave a shout of happiness.

"Yuuki! Poppa!" He greeted as his tail made little waves in the water.

Yuuki was clinging onto her father as he carried her on his arm like she was weightless. She was peering with her own blue eyes at her mother and brother in the big bathtub that usually she and momma played in.

Her tail gave away her joy at seeing her twin while her face stayed the same calm expression. Bulma knew her to be quiet and observant and a little withdrawn from others but that was mainly because she was shy- like her Poppa. Vii was the opposite. He didn't usually like a lot of people, but he was super friendly and loud with the ones he did like. Him and Karasu were almost jointed at the hips, so much so that Sparrow and Genki moved into one of the hundreds of houses Bulma owned nearby to make it easier on the two when it was time to go their separate ways. Yuuki would join in with the two at times, but she usually didn't want to get her dress dirty or ruin her pretty outfits that she fancied. She hated pink, but her clothes were always lacy and frilly.

"Woman, what are you doing?" Vegeta asked as Vii broke free of her hold and began to dog paddle around in the large tub easily.

"Washing him. He and Karasu looked like mud monsters when I found them so Sparrow's cleaning up Karasu while I decided to join Vii in a bath."

"We playin' like Poppa and Un'ca 'Enki" Vii said with bright eyes before splashing in the water.

Bulma smirked as she laid back a bit into the tub, "He's mostly clean now. Tonight is bath night anyways, so why don't you hand Yuuki-chan over. Do _you_ wanna join us?"

"Join you? With the brats?" Vegeta asked, lifting a brow at her question, "No."

Vegeta cursed in his head as he watched her expression slowly drop. Her lip slowly pulled into a pout as she looked at him with sad doe eyes. Her lip quivered a bit before she used the excuse she had been using for everything the last month.

"Tomorrow's the day the androids attack though," she said in a quite voice, almost a whisper, "Today might be our last happy memory of all of us as a family."

Vegeta's tail twitched to and fro as he tried to resist what she had said. But the idea of never having another chance to hold on to her or watch over his pups and her as they played made him give in. As much as he hated to admit it, even if it was only to himself, he wanted them to remember him kindly, even though he was not a good man.

He gave her a withering stare as he sighed, helping Yuuki pull off her clothes before handing her to her mother. The child held out her arms so her momma could take her and was gently put into the water. Her straight hair, so different from the unruly locks of her brother that stood on end in a Vegeta upswept way, soon danced around her as it rested in the water.

Bulma watched Vegeta, unsure of what he would do at first, before he began to undress. She gave him a brilliant smile as she made room for him in the large bathtub.

"Arigato, Vegeta," Bulma told him sweetly, giving him a peck on the cheek when he had lowered himself into the warm, bubbly water.

He humphed and turned his head to the side to show his detest, but Bulma knew him too well. She giggled a bit, shifting until she was sitting on his lap and watching as Vii lovingly played with his shier twin.

After bathing together like a family, the twins were pulled out, dried, and readied for bed. Before that though, they stopped over at the elder Brief's house to have dinner. Vegeta never complained that Sparrow knew how to cook well and didn't rely on her parents, but then again, he had tried eating her food for a few weeks and never complained again about her insane mother when it came to food.

On their return, the twins were allowed to play a bit longer before heading upstairs to their separate rooms. They would never get to sleep if they shared, that much had become apparent when they were younger. They had slept in cribs only for the first three month and after Vii and Yuuki had busted to bars the umpteenth time, Bulma finally consented to crafting a bed similar to what Vegeta had as a child.

She kissed Vii goodnight, trying not to laugh at the way he had conked out in the middle of her story. Yuuki had already been said goodnight to and Vegeta was telling her a story tonight while she told Vii one. They switched every night- though Vegeta really didn't get _why_ they told stories (a waste of time that they were), he humored her.

"_Allisgi tes' na_?" Bulma asked him, using his native tongue.

He had just come into the bedroom, no doubt having sung Yuuki to sleep.

"_Iilsletia_" he confessed back.

"You have every right to be nervous," Bulma told him with a sad smile, "I'm nervous for you guys."

It had been plaguing her thoughts all day, no matter what she tried. Only few moments of reprieve from tomorrow's fate.

"At least you have a future that doesn't include you dying," Vegeta scoffed, lying next to her, his guard up as he glanced at her.

Her eyes saddened as she slowly hugged him, pulling him closer than he wanted to be tonight. He had to steel himself for tomorrow. He knew rest or sleep would not be his tonight, since who could sleep when their impending doom hung over their heads like an ax ready to fall? He knew that she could sense his turmoil. It was one of the many things Genki had taught her to See when using her Seer gift. It was one thing that he wanted to beat the mongrel for teaching her.

"I have no future without you…" She confessed in his ear quietly, "It will be lonely, and without much meaning once Vii and Yuuki are old enough." She changed tongues to speak in Saiya-go, _"You are my life, my prince. You are my strength, my warrior. You are my love, my mate."_

"Bulma…"

What to say to such words? There was nothing. Vegeta knew that there was little time to do much more than have one last passionate romp with her. Tomorrow there was no telling what would occur and tomorrow the woman might become mate-less. She had already suffered great loss, but what else could he do for her besides try his hardest to survive?

She shivered at her name, looking at him with a saddened stare, "Could you make love to me tonight?"

And so he did.

* * *

It was early morning when he woke, silently shifting in the bed so he had a good reach for his mate's alarm clock, turning it off without hesitation. He rested his arm after the deed was done, lying there, staring at the woman that had become so much to him in such a little amount of time.

He fingered a twist of her short hair. Her hair had been cut shorter because of the grabby hands of their pups, wishing to tug and play with her soft locks. He had felt the same relentless tug when they got a hold of his hair, but his were pretty much rooted in. It still surprisingly hurt though.

He sighed, kissing her forehead before getting up. After last night's activities she wasn't going to wake up on her own, and he was planning on that. She was insane if she thought it would be alright for her to go and visit her 'friends' hours before impending doom.

And he knew she would do it too.

He wouldn't let her. There would be a fight if he let her wake, so instead he chose to wear her out physically. He'd be surprised if she could even move from that spot for a couple hours longer. He had taken her so many times that he had almost been the one whispering 'no more'. Luckily, she had conceded first. Also, he was glad at how fast he was at recovering. Even with last night's work out, he wouldn't be exhausted today when the battle came.

He quietly pulled out his armor- the gift she had given him for last Christmas as a special surprise- and headed to the other wing to shower- as to not wake her. He was quick, taking only enough time to wash off the sweat and other things that had cumulated from last night before getting dressed.

Checking the clock that read 6:30, he headed down to Yuuki's room to get her up, then her brother while she dressed. Bulma liked to leave them in the Pjs for a while, but he thought it best if they learned early to get dressed as soon as they woke. Depending on who woke them usually depended on their state of dress- usually Pjs since Bulma did the majority of the waking.

Yuuki was where he left her last night in the large nest of pillows, blankets, and stuffed animals that made up her bed. She hadn't ever taken to a crib but since she didn't move around at night, they never bothered to contain her- same with her brother. He even had a bed similar to hers when he was little, made of all sorts of soft things and blankets made of silky material or fuzzy soft material. One of the reasons he liked so many pillows was because it reminded him of a Saiyan sleeping accommodation. As a pup, he use to bury himself deep within his nest like bed, enjoying the security he felt in it.

He gently petted her hair, whispering to her in his gurteral language to get up, before standing up to look through her closet. He could see out of the corner of his eye as she slowly sat up, rubbing her right eye with her right wrist, wiping the sleep out of her eyes. Her hair was messy for a moment before suddenly falling perfectly into place.

"Momma's sleepin'?" Yuuki asked in a quiet tone as she slowly made her way to her Poppa.

He was still trying to figure out which outfit to pull out from her vast collection. She was picky and finicky about what she would wear, so Momma usually let her pick out what she was going to wear and help her into it.

"She'll be sleeping in today. I want you and Vii to be as quiet as possible so she doesn't wake up until way after lunch." Vegeta told her, swooping down and picking her up so she had a better reach of her clothes, "Pick something quickly, hime."

She leaned against him happily as she pointed to an outfit that looked particularly nice. There were flowers on the trees and the weather had been very nice, so the soft yellow lacy dress would be wonderful today. He pulled it out, setting her down before handing it to her. She was a little disappointed to be set down so soon, but eventually would get him to pick her up again.

"Get dressed, I am going to wake your brother," he told her, petting her hair before giving her a light kiss on the forehead, like he did when no one was looking.

She nodded, turning her attention to getting out the accessories she wanted as well as her shoes.

Vegeta headed into the other room quietly, noticing how Vii had curled into a ball in the middle of his beddings- which were almost identical to his sister's save the color- and had all the blankets surrounding him like a protective shield. He was half burrowed into his nest and looked very comfortable. Vegeta smirked as he rolled his eyes, wondering how his son did all that in his sleep when he was put to bed like any normal child with the blankets on top of him while his head was on a pillow and was flat on his back.

Muttering the same words he had spoken to Yuuki, he headed to the dresser to pull out clothes for the boy.

"Momma sleepin'?" Vii asked rather confused as he stirred, recognizing his father's ki.

"You're mother will not be up till later today. I expect you to remain quiet so that she doesn't wake up anytime soon." Vegeta told him, handing his son a shirt and pants to dress in. Unlike his daughter, his son wore whatever he was given.

"'Tay," Vii nodded, stripping immediately and getting dressed in the clothes.

"Do you need to use the bathroom?" Vegeta asked, opening the door and letting Yuuki in.

"Ya," Vii nodded.

"Me too," Yuuki pitched in with a gentle tone.

Quickly going over the morning routine that he had learned, Vegeta had made sure the two were dressed, used the bathroom, and brushed their teeth before heading down to the kitchen. Usually they headed over to Capsule's main house to get breakfast from the twins's grandmother, but on rare occasion, Vegeta cooked.

Unlike his mate, he was quite skilled at cooking. However, he wasn't interested in long hours over the stove, or the idea of others knowing of his culinary skills.

He was a warrior, not a house maid. Yet, today he cooked because he really didn't know when the next time he saw his pups would be. He let them help, being patient as they made a mess 'helping', but he let it slide today. After breakfast, he took them outside and left them play in the garden, Tsukiyo and Asahi joining as well.

"Poppa," Yuuki called as she ran towards him, holding her hands out to him, "Up!"

"Manners," Vegeta reminded her, knowing how Bulma liked to enforce the idea of manners upon her two children. He didn't mind either. They were royal and as royalty, should know proper etiquette.

"Up, please," she rectified, standing on her tippy toes to reach higher for him.

Sighing, he swooped her up into his hold and held her dearly. She gave him a brilliant smile, shy but loving. Soon Vii was making the same demands, only he added the please since he had seen his sister's first mistake already. Both were in his arms, just sitting there staring out into the backyard. All was silent, even the dogs had stilled their movements.

"Sing, please?" Yuuki finally asked.

"Yeah, Poppa! Sing song! A _moon_song," Vii encouraged as his tail wagged to and fro happily.

Vegeta couldn't know for sure, but it felt like they knew he might not come back this time. One last request. This was what they would remember of him. So he cleared his voice and began to stroll into the garden singing them a song that would be sung at moon rise on Vegeta-sei. A song of hunting, love, and remorse. It was said that the song was the very song that Evangeline herself had composed. It was one of their favorites to hear. He weaved from one song to another, not sure how long he stood there singing, but he finally ended the song when he felt Genki near.

"I want both of you to do me a favor," he told them, looking at their eager blue eyes, ready to do ask their father asked of them, "Today I am going to battle… I don't know if I will return, but I want you two to protect your mother. Do not let her head towards me today. Where I go, danger is, so I want to make sure all three of you are safe. Do you understand?"

Vii nodded first, taking it seriously. His father didn't ask for things like this. It was only proper to take it to heart. Yuuki looked at her father in worry. She didn't like the idea of him not returning, but she swallowed her complaints, knowing she had to be strong and brave for him. Crying wasn't going to keep him here, only make it harder for all of them.

"Yes Poppa," Vii replied first.

"We'll protect Momma," Yuuki voiced faintly, nodding her consent.

"Good." Vegeta turned and looked at Genki, "I'll catch up."

"Hai," Genki nodded, taking off from the spot he had been standing on into the sky.

Vegeta gave a kiss to each of his pups, resting his forehead against theirs for a moment before quickly flying them to their grandparents's large estate. Bunny was already up, washing dishes from her and her husband's small breakfast. She came out of the kitchen's back door, walking up to take the two.

"The woman is still asleep. Don't wake her anytime soon and don't let her head out anywhere near where I will be today. I won't be able to assist her without getting her in more danger." He instructed, handing over the two before taking a few steps away and flying off.

It was time.

Almost instantly he caught up with Genki, noticing that the man who usually wore loose a Gi to training was now wearing the Seiyen's armor. Similar to the Saiyan's but more sleek and fitting to his fighting style in black, deep blue, and purple hues that were of his royal house.

"I didn't think you'd join," Vegeta looked impressed at his sudden act of bravery.

"I did it for my family," was all the Seiyen said.

"You're not going to be much help if they don't have ki," Vegeta warned him.

"I'm not there to fight," his black eyes met with Vegeta's, "I'm there to serve the others. I've been practicing my healing skills, remember? If I can keep you all alive, we have a better chance to return to our beds with our mates at the end of the day, neh?"

Vegeta didn't answer. He already knew that the mongrel Seiyen was right. He desperately wished to return at the end of the day triumphant.

…He hoped it wouldn't take forever…

* * *

Well, this wasn't what he had been expecting. Sure, both princes were a bit late, but the battle already looked like it had thrashed through the city and left.

"Genki, locate where the idiots are now and see if you can't pick up a ki signal from the enemies." Vegeta took command, not yet turning Super Saiyan.

Both were hovering over the area, accessing where they stood on the battlefield.

"They're over there," Genki pointed with a disconcerted look on his face, "There seems to be a flicker of Yamcha's ki in one of the enemies, however, that's all I can sense of them. They aren't biological at all so there is no ki… no wait…" His forehead crinkled, "I can sense some sort of reminiscing essence of ki in one of them… And Goku's ki isn't doing so well. It seems to be slipping…"

Vegeta looked at the other prince after his initial report was over, "He's weakening?"

"The heart virus," Genki nodded, "I can sense something is off with his ki and it has nothing to do with the enemies, though I suspect they have a device to steal ki since one has Yamcha's in his system."

Vegeta nodded his head, "Alright. You are to get Kakkorrot out of here, take him home, get his mate and lil' brat and head back to the house. It'll be better to throw them off if they aren't where they would suspect."

"Vegeta," Genki gave him a strong look, "I have a feeling this is only the very beginning. Call it a sixth sense, but I am getting a hunch that this will only get worse before it gets better. Keep your head and make sure your oversized ego and pride don't show up anytime soon."

"Stop lecturing me," Vegeta warned, "Go get the moron before he's killed."

Genki let out a wiry grin, "Always one of the theatrical entries. And I thought I was vain about how others saw me."

A vein throbbed on his head as he jerked a finger over the area and yell, "Get moving, you mongrel!"

Genki grinned as he flew off with a chuckle, "sure, sure warmonger."

* * *

Everyone else had been staring in horror as they watched Goku slowly strangled. Glued to their spots on the sidelines, unable to think far enough to save their dear friend out of sheer terror. Piccolo was the only one that even had the guts to move, but he had moved too late.

Android 20 was almost about to crush Goku's throat. He was so close! All he had to do was drain a little bit more then it'd be over for Son Goku. He hadn't been expectation at all the powerful strike to his face or the crushing grip that tore Goku from his hands.

By the sounds the others were making, they had no clue to who this was either.

Yamcha was awestruck as he watched the tall ebony haired man stoop over Goku and check vitals.

"W-who is he?" Krillin whispered, terrified that it was just someone else to add to the list of enemies.

Yamcha stared at him, trying to get a grasp of his voice because he _knew_ who this man was. He was the only other man besides him and Vegeta who had ever gotten close to Bulma romantically. The rest had been thrown to the side after a week or two, but not this man.

"He's still alive," he spoke aloud, "Though the idiot probably should have been taking that medicine. Really, is it too hard to guess when you'd catch it?"

Android 19's fists curled up in anger as he demanded to know who the mysterious man was. Android 20 was curious as well, promising death threats to the unknown man.

"He's just the local healer," a voice caught all their attention, "Not much of a fighter, but its pretty pathetic when the little mongrel can throw a deadly weapon."

They all turned to look at Vegeta's form as he walked up calmly, his arms crossed and staring at the man with a smirk.

The other man's comeback was, "Pretty good for a pacifist, neh?"

"Vegeta!" Krillin called out in surprise, then glanced over to Genki who was hefting Goku up, "You know this guy?"

"Unfortunately," Vegeta spat, but even though the rest thought he was being rude, Genki knew it to be a cover.

"I thought I told you to leave your ego at home," Genki grinned, giving a glance over at the stunned Yamcha, "How have you been doing? Haven't seen you in a few years."

"You know him Yamcha?" Tien asked as all eyes were laid on him now.

"Yeah… that's one of Bulma's other exes: Genki." Yamcha said in a surprised tone, "I didn't know he knew how to even levetate! He's never had a ki level before!"

"Ah," Genki grinned, "One of Earth's greatest ability, ki suppression. It was one of my people's secrets too."

"Will you quit talking like school girls and go?" Vegeta's temper finally got the best of him, "Gossip later!"

Genki rolled his eyes, "What a charmer."

He hefted Goku all the way up before taking off so fast it looked like he had just fazed out of sight.

Android 19 and 20 looked around for him in confusion to this unforeseen development but it was 19 that chuckled, "No matter, I will wipe him out after I destroy all of you."

Everyone readied a battle stance, but it was Vegeta that let out the laugh, "That'll be the day. You won't be getting past me any time soon."

And with that, he transformed.

"Your about to be nothing more than scrap metal," he chuckled before lunging at Android 20.


End file.
